Good cop Bad cop: the continuation
by Toriga-Okami
Summary: First five bits can be found in Drabble collection: Toriga-Okami style. She's a cop, he's a baddie, now go figure! xD Part 28; Tifa questions Rufus on a mansion he recently renovated and discovers some satisfying things in Shinra's record room. Lucrecia!
1. Date

Good Cop bad cop pt. 6

A/N: I wasn't even sure I was going to write this, or continue the good cop bad cop series, but I got some good reviews for it, so I've decided to put it into a new story all of its own XD And I'll try to update regularly, but no promises you understand XD

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"No." Tifa said, tossing her head and waltzing away down the street. Canary stepped up to walk beside her, hands clasped with the tickets in between them. He begged her, "Why not? It's not like you have anything to be doing now anyway!"

Tifa's mouth twitched, "How do you know I don't have something better to be doing?"

"Because," he explained, "Ordinarily you would be searching for me, and I'm here now. Also, you've just recovered from a very serious injury, the police department is unlikely to be giving you extra work to do anyway, and besides, all you do on a Saturday night is go home, cook dinner, have a shower and then settle down in front of the TV and watch sappy love stories all night."

She stopped, turning to him with her mouth working furiously while her brain tried to work out just what it was that he had just said. "You watch me at home?!" She finally managed to choke out.

He shook his head, "No, I just know what it is women do after work when they have no boyfriend."

She made an 'Oh...' expression, and then suddenly a 'wait WHAT!' expression, her face steadily turning red. Then she was off again, marching down the street, her hands balled up into fists of embarrassment and rage. Canary had to jog to keep up she was walking so fast. "Tifa!" He whined, "What did I do? Come on! I've got the tickets now! And you even said you wanted to go!"

She ignored him. He continued, "Anything you want, it's on me. Come on, why not!"

"Because 1) I didn't say I wanted to go and even if I did I wouldn't go with you. And 2) you lied and said I was your Girlfriend, you accused me of not having a Boyfriend and you also suggested that I am a pathetic weakling who falls at the first hurdle. In short, you have offended me. _That's_ why not!"

He smirked and took a step forward, amusement in his eyes as he looked at her from under his bangs. "I'm sorry I have offended you-" _He didn't look the LEAST bit sorry_ "I didn't mean to suggest you are weak, and you not having a boyfriend only makes it easier for me to rectify my lie." _Oh yeah, of course..._ "So I would like to make it up to you by taking you out tonight."

He watched her as she tried to make up her mind. "What do you mean, 'rectify your lie'?"

He chuckled and shook his head, taking her hand and leading her towards a motorbike that was parked at the side of the road. Letting go of her he opened the seat and took out a helmet, which he turned and held out to her. Somewhat reluctant, she took it, looking at it hesitantly before Canary sighed, and helped her put it on. "There," he said once she was strapped in. "Wouldn't want you getting hurt now would we?"

She narrowed her eyes at him out of the visor and he abruptly flicked it shut. Smirking, he held out his hand again, and this time she took it. He helped her onto the bike, and then slid on in front of her. She immediately wrapped her arms round him – she certainly didn't want to fall off, and besides, it wasn't exactly unpleasant hugging his _very _well muscled middle. Checking just once over his shoulder, he sped off into the traffic.

When he pulled up at the cinema, Tifa was seething. She had counted exactly 8 times when he had broken the law, and just how did he pass his test? They had ran red lights, obscured other traffic, nearly rear-ended an old woman in a smart car and he didn't seem to know his bike had indicators. She had been tempted to just shut her eyes and pray she lived, but then she was a cop, and this was important evidence. As soon as he stopped the bike, she was off it, staggering away and pulling the helmet from her head. He watched her with a half-amused smile on his face. "Do you know," she fumed, "You just broke the law at _least_ eight times?"

He nodded, smirking as he set down the stand and took the helmet from her and put it in the seat compartment. When he turned around, she was still standing where he'd left her, but was now looking towards the cinema, her back to him. He walked up behind her and leant so his chin was resting on her shoulder, "What's the matter?" He murmured.

She shook her head, "Nothing..."

Shrugging, he slipped his hand through hers, and walked them towards the double doors of the multiplex. Tifa watched him from the corner of her eye. He seemed happy, the corner of his mouth curling slightly, his eyes focused ahead. She had to admit, if they were doing different jobs, and living different lives, he may well have been the type of person she would be interested in, but as it was... She sighed. As it was they weren't living different lives or doing different jobs, and for that reason, she couldn't be interested in him. Even if he was taking her out on a Saturday night. Wait; would this count as a _date?_ Tifa's face reddened, she could feel the heat creeping up her neck at the thought. She hadn't been on a date since her senior prom, and even then her date had stood her up, in a 700 Gil Prom dress no less!

She was vaguely aware of him questioning what film she wanted to watch, and looking around the listing boards, she picked one. 'The Ugly Truth.' Well it looked alright, and besides he wasn't her boyfriend, so she could still curl up on the seat and watch a sappy chick movie if she wanted to.

Her eyebrow twitched when he offered to buy her a coke, _like a REAL boyfriend, _needless to say she declined. "I don't like them either." He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck as he handed her her ticket.

They went through and sat down in silence as they waited for the lights to go down. As soon as the adverts started rolling Canary whispered, "What are you mad at me about this time?"

"I'm not mad." She mumbled, prompting a sarcastic huff and a whispered, "Of course, you always sit there looking like I just shot your dog."

She glared at him and hissed, "Well if I am cross at you, that are your problem isn't it? Not mine."

"But if you don't tell me what I've done to upset you, I'll never know will I. What's your problem? Tch, girls like you!"

She rolled her eyes as the film began to start, "Girls like me, expect boys like you, to find that out for yourself." Then she shuffled a bit to get comfortable, and settled down to watch the film, leaving Canary staring wide-eyed at the side of her face.

As far as she could tell, the film was about a TV presenter who was helping his producer to get the man of her dreams, who also happened to be her neighbour. But then halfway through the film, the presenter started falling for the producer and it was all very soppy and sad and lovely and – Difficult to follow with his arm creeping round her shoulders and his leg pressed up to hers like that. She knew he was doing it on purpose, she'd seen the smirk on his face when she'd turned to tell him off. _Gawd _he was so frustrating! And _way_ too good looking in the half-darkness.

She was still staring at him when the movie ended, and the credits were rolling. She'd missed the ending; she'd been too focused on thinking up what she was going to say to him when the lights went up. So when he looked down at her and noticed her staring, all she could really think to do now was to look like a rabbit in the headlights and carry on staring. He half-smiled, leant forward, and whispered, "I know I'm fun to look at, but staring isn't nice."

She blinked, her bad mood returning with a vengeance, "I wasn't staring at you."

"I'm sorry to break it to you," he said, feigning sincerity, "But yes you were."

Scowling, she got up and legged it to the exit; unfortunately, it was blocked by the sea of people who were also attempting to exit the screen. A cool voice sounded behind her, "That looked an awful lot like running Lockheart."

She ignored him and used her elbows to shove her way through the crowd. Pulling herself from the mass, she began walking calmly in the direction of the outside. When she got beyond the doors, she realised she had a problem. She would either have to walk home, or flag down a taxi, but that was presuming she had money on her, which she didn't. She was about halfway across the parking lot before Canary caught up to her, and held out her phone. She blinked at it for a moment, before taking it and giving him an accusatory look. He put his hands up and said, "What? Don't look at me, you dropped it!"

"Yeah right," She muttered darkly, dropping the phone back into her pocket and continuing across the lot, "I dropped it, of course I did. It's not like you're a criminal or anything then?"

He was following her, walking carefully on the very tip of her shadow, but he still heard the comment. "Hey," he protested, "I may be a bit of a gangster type of guy, but I don't steal. I have a job you know."

"Really?" She questioned, her voice thick with sarcasm, "And what would that be? Professional gambler?"

"No," He corrected, "I'm a delivery boy."

She stopped at the edge of the lot and stuck out her thumb. "What're you doing?" He asked, watching her with his arms crossed and a curious look on his face.

"Getting a ride." She said. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"But the bike's only over there." He said, pointing to where the bike was stood only a few meters away.

"I'm not going on the bike." She said, yawning. If he was going to continue bugging her she was really going to lose her patience. She was tired, hungry, and had just spent her Saturday night in the forced company of someone she really didn't want to get to know. _Really _didn't want to get to know.

"Why not?" She glanced at him. He looked disappointed, and upset. His eyes had lost their usual shine and had picked up a doleful look. Her heart softened and she let her arm fall.

"Because, I don't know who you are, I don't know what you're going to do now. And if I get on that bike you could take me anywhere you wanted. At least if I hitchhike I won't have to deal with someone of your... profession."

He looked at the floor, as though thinking and Tifa could do nothing more than wait for his reply. "If you want to know who I am, I could tell you that. And What I _was _going to do was take you home. If you like?"

Tifa considered him carefully. His entire being, the way he was standing, the dullness in his eye, his tone of voice, everything seeped hurt and sincerity. She wanted to trust him, she really did, and besides, he hadn't done anything... Untoward yet... _Why not just, take a leap? _

She nodded, blushing. Immediately his expression lightened, his lips parting on a smile that reached all the way to his eyes, deep and blue, and – She really needed to grab a hold of herself, she was sounded more and more love struck by the second! He held out his hand for her, and they walked the few paces to his bike hand in hand. She was blushing horribly when he settled infront of her, and this time she didn't have the helmet to hide it. He turned his head to look at her out of the corner of one eye. "Don't worry, I'll stick to the law this time Teef..."

She nodded, blushing at the nickname, then hid her face in the back of his jacket. He smirked in satisfaction and they sped away into the streets.

They pulled up to the doors infront of Tifa's apartment building little over 30 minutes later. Tifa yawned and lifted her head from Canary's back where it had settled sometime in the journey. He looked at her over his shoulder again and she blinked sleepily. "Maybe you need me to carry you all the way to your room huh?" He offered.

"No!" She said firmly, swinging her leg over the bike and dismounting. She had barely stepped back from him before he caught her wrist and pulled her into him. She flushed pink as his fingers tightened round her wrist and right hip. "W-what're you doing?" She stammered, wriggling her wrist in his firm, but not quite painful grip.

"You haven't said goodbye to me yet Lockheart." He said smirking. Uh-oh, this couldn't be good, he was grinning, never a good sign. His fingers tightened on her hip, pinning her closer to him as he said, "And I thought you wanted to know my name."

She nodded, _yeah, a name would be good, somehow calling him a bird all the time just didn't fit the biscuit. _He chuckled as he stood up from the bike, "I'll tell you what my name is, only so I can hear you scream it to me later. Deal?"

Her breath hitched in her chest, but she nodded, prompting the smile on his face to widen. He bent his head, pulling her closer still, "Cloud. Cloud Strife." He whispered against her lips, before fitting their mouths together, muffling out the small squeak that escaped her.

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A/N: So? Am I forgiven for posting it in a completely new folder all of its own? I tried to make this thing as long as possible, but there was only so much I could cram into this chapter, and besides, I have had a serious case of writers block lol XD You know the drill, Read it and Rate it, even if you hate it XD


	2. Tsk Tsk

She was melting, going soft and pliable and melting... In a good way, oh ho yes, in a _very _good way. It made his blood pump faster round his body, just the way she was relaxing into him so wonderfully, so perfectly. He had half a mind to drag her up to her room right then and finish the job, but he was better than that, and she was worth more than that, and he was gentlemanly, despite what_ certain _parts of his anatomy_ seemed _to think_. _He would just let her go, give her the note and let. Her. Go. Blimey, easier said than done!

He was breathing just a little quicker than normal when they came up for air, but she was practically boneless in his arms, gasping for breath and leaning into him so he was taking most of her weight. There was a faint pink hue on her cheeks and her lips were parted slightly as she fought to get her breathing under control. Now see _this_ was precisely why he liked her. She was just undeniably beautiful – even when she was angry at him.

He smirked and her blush deepened. "You're blushing."

It may have seemed like the obvious thing to say, but it worked for him, and she looked away, searching for something to focus on, even with his arms still supporting her. To emphasise this fact, he settled back down on the bike, and she came with him, landing in his lap. Her fingers clutched at his shirt to steady her, and he smirked again. "So, Lockheart," He whispered, his lips ghosting over the skin of her neck as he talked, "Tonight wasn't so bad was it?"

She made a noise, like a growl, and he returned with one of his own, deep and low in his throat. He felt her swallow, and smirked against her skin. "You could answer me with words if you like."

"Yes" she whispered, her voice shaking a bit.

He smirked again, "Yes, what?"

"Tonight was - not – so bad." She gasped, her fingers tightening in his shirt as his lips painted a line of kisses along her neck and jaw.

"Good" he whispered, "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself." He wasn't lying either, and if she wasn't enjoying herself, then he most certainly was. He didn't know what it was about her, maybe the fact that she wasn't some 2 Gil whore, or the fact that she seemed to have boundaries, or even that she didn't throw herself at him whenever she saw him, but whatever it was, it had him hooked. Ever since he had first ran into her, he had been just looking for ways to get involved in her life. Was it so much to ask, that a guy should be able to talk to a pretty girl sometimes?

It had hurt him when she would rather hitchhike with some total stranger than let him drive her home, and he hadn't been afraid to let that show. He had done enough lying in his life; he didn't want to start lying to her, even if it hurt him in the end.

He lifted his head and admired his handy-work. The love bite was already taking colour and he brushed his fingertips across it, smirking when she asked, "Is this going to become a regular thing with you? Because if it is, I might invest in some make-up."

He frowned, "Don't, I wouldn't have put it there if I wanted you to cover it up would I?"

She turned her head to look at him, "Then why did you put it there?"

Smirking, he pressed a finger to her lips, "Shh, it's a secret."

Tifa could have died when he winked at her. As if that breath takingly seamless kiss wasn't bad enough, now she was sat in his _lap_ while he did wicked things to her, and she was willingly allowing him! At what point had her mind gone so terribly left wing, she had no idea, but it was time to pull it back in line that was for sure, before somebody saw them.

Flushing, she wriggled in his arms, attempting to free herself from the cage he had created. He loosened his grip on her, but didn't let her go. "Look," she said, "You've had your fun, I went out with you for the night, and now we're here and I'm tired and my bed is less than 100 meters away. Please can you let me go?"

He cocked his head to the side, but stood, holding onto her until she balanced herself on the pavement, then let go. She smiled slightly, and turned to go, but once again he caught her wrist. "You still haven't said goodnight to me Lockheart."

She sighed, "Goodnight Strife."

_Urgh... Breakfast... So hungry... And tired... And... Oh My God!_

Tifa vaulted out of bed and into the bathroom, only to groan when she looked in the mirror. There, on the front of her throat, right in the middle, was a deep, purple mark. _He did that on purpose!_

She stood for a few moments, scrubbing at her neck with a wet towel, but the mark didn't budge. She groaned and stomped into her bedroom, ripping open the wardrobe and rifling through it until she found her turtle neck jumper. He may not want her to cover it with make-up, but he can't object to her wearing a jumper right? Then again, why was she listening to him anyway? It wasn't as though he had any form of control over her, was it. Wasn't as if they were boyfriend and girlfriend, was it. Now then, what's for breakfast?

The kitchen was practically empty of quick food, the only thing she could reasonably eat without cooking it, was a banana. It looked like someone had been into her flat and cleared out the things that would go off while she was in hospital, most likely Aerith. But of course that meant she would have to go shopping and restock. It was Sunday too, her one day off, which meant she had all day to wonder round town and buy some stuff.

Leaving the apartment building, she stopped. Was it just her imagination? Or was there a note pinned to the door with her name on it? Turning back, she saw there was indeed a note on the door with her name on it, in the same scribbled handwriting that had been on all the most recent notes she'd been receiving. Cana- no, wait, he was called Cloud wasn't he. Cloud. What did he want this time?

Unpinning the note, she opened it and pulled out the card from inside. It had nothing on it but an 11 digit number on it. _Tch, men._ She thought as she tucked the card into her handbag and carried on down the steps.

The sun was really beating down, and Tifa was beginning to regret her choice of jumper. Finally, it was too much for her to bear, and she had to go search for a more suitable bit of clothing. There was a market on over in the square, which seemed like the obvious place to start. She was walking round the stalls, looking at things that caught her eye, when a hand appeared over her shoulder and plucked the book from her hands. She opened her mouth to object, but shut it tight when she saw who it was. Cloud was standing behind her, one hand holding up the book he had nicked, and the other hand had found its way to her hip and was resting there, much to her annoyance.

"It's quite a good book." He said, handing her back 'Dances with Wolves'. She took it and replaced it on the table. Slipping away from him, she moved on to the next stall. He followed.

"Why are you following me?" She asked, examining another book, 'Pride and Prejudice'.

"Because I saw you over here and decided to say hello."

"Hello."

He chuckled, then stopped, grabbing her wrist and pulling her round. "Why are you wearing that jumper?" He demanded, grip painfully tight.

She winced and said, "To cover it up."

Her hand came to her wrist, trying to pry his fingers from her skin. He frowned and pulled her arm, dislodging her other hand and tugged her out of the market. He pulled her all the way along the road and round the block until they got to her apartment building, and he didn't stop or let go until they were standing outside her door.

"Why do you try and annoy me?" He asked as he pushed a key into the door and twisted the lock until it clicked and Tifa's jaw dropped open.

He dragged her all the way into her room, and pushed her down on the bed. She shuffled away from him, but he was already rooting though her wardrobe, tossing things aside as he searched for something. Tifa couldn't help the sting of annoyance that ran through her at the sight of him dropping her clothes on the floor and creating a mess, but it quickly turned into fright when he turned round and strode back to the bed again, a shirt in his hands. He thrust it towards her.

"Wear that."

She shook her head, her arms coming up to curl around herself protectively as she leant away from him. He shook the shirt at her. "Take off the jumper and put this on."

"Why?" she hissed, attempting to move backwards away from him, even as his hand settled on her knee.

"Because," he smirked, the glint in his eyes taking on an evil sort of look, "I want you to. Lockheart, I told you not to cover it up, and yet-"

"With make-up" she corrected, shoving his hand from her knee, and feeling a little more than irritated when it settled there again, "You told me not to cover it with Make-up. You said nothing about the clothing I can wear."

"Well that's lucky for you then isn't it." He smiled, showing all his perfectly straight, perfectly white teeth in a grin that sort of reminded her of a wolf. "Because if it was _my _decision, you wouldn't be wearing anything."

His grin widened at the hitch in her breath, "Now change the top." Then he added, "I'll wait outside."

Tifa supposed it could be worse, _he could have removed the top himself_ she thought as she pushed her arms through the shirt sleeves. Then she paused, before hiding her face in her hands at the idea of his finger tips trailing languorously over her skin. She was blushing horribly as she did up the buttons. She would really have to bring her thoughts under control. Or she may very well go insane.

He was true to his word, and was still waiting for her when she emerged from her room, now wearing the light blue blouse he had forced on her. She had to admit, it was one of her favourites, and she did look nice in blue, it went well with her hair colour. When she came out, she was still blushing, a thing that obviously didn't go unnoticed by Cloud, and he narrowed an eye at her from where he was leaning on her counter. He walked over and adjusted her outfit, opening the collar a little more and very gently, very _slowly_ pulling the shirt from where she had tucked it into her skirt. She was struggling to keep her breathing under control as he moved around her, moving her hair back from her neck, checking her outfit was exactly to his liking.

"Please don't cover it up," He whispered as his hands fell to her waist, pulling her back against him. "I did tell you didn't I? That I wanted it to be seen."

She could feel the heat creeping up her neck and face at his hands, which were beginning to wander, making their way slowly up her body. She had half a mind to swat him away and tell him to keep his hands to himself, but the other half of her mind - the distinctly reprobate side – was putting up a fight. It might have been said reprobate that forced her to ask, "Why would you want them to see?"

"Because," he whispered in her ear, one hand drawing absent-minded patterns on her stomach, "Then they'd know, wouldn't they. They would know, you're nowhere near their league. And even if you were." He chuckled, and Tifa's breath hitched at the low sound. "Even if you were, Lockheart, you're mine only."

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A/N: soooo sorry about the wait, but for some strange reason fanfiction wouldn't let me upload the file :( But it has now :) I have the next chapter on the go atm, but I'm experiencing a little writers block, so if it all comes out crappy then I'm sorry... :(


	3. Heart to Heart

"Wait! Tifa!" Cloud was cut off sharply as the door slammed in his face. He poked his tongue out and screwed up his face. "Rudeness will get you nowhere Lockheart."

On the other side of the door, Tifa was scowling; her arms crossed over her chest in an unimpressed pose. "You're lecturing ME about being rude! It was you who barged your way into my flat and demanded I strip off!"

Cloud smirked, leaning a hand on the doorframe "Yes. I suppose I did, but you didn't object did you."

"I most certainly did! But you were too busy searching through my tops; I didn't want to wound your delicate male pride."

He raised an eyebrow, "So you did as I said."

"Yes."

"And so you threw me out because..."

"You were invading my personal space."

He frowned, "You never had a problem with it before."

She winced.

"You didn't let me have a problem with it. Besides, you generally tended to keep your hands to yourself."

His self-satisfied grin was back, "So you would prefer it if I was a more courteous lover."

"Yes."

"Aha!" He jammed the key into the door and forced it open, sending Tifa skittering back into the hall. "You just said you wanted me to be your lover!"

Her mouth fell open, "No, no I- I did not!"

He nodded, trying - and failing - to keep the wolfish grin to a smug look, "You just said-"

"This is childish!"

"How is it childish? You're only saying that because you're losing the argument!"

She frowned, doing her level best to look hurt by him, but failing.

He raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms and leaning back. "Isn't it right though? You know you're losing, so you're calling me childish."

She shook her head, returning his look, "I'm calling it childish because it is; acting as though we're lovers, dropping in to see me, cooking things, buying stuff. It's a childish fling that-"

"Fling?" He looked hurt.

"Yes, fling. You shouldn't mess around with women when you have no feelings for them. People of your stature-"

"MY stature? What about the people of YOUR stature?" Something had struck a chord.

She fixed him a look that would have made a lesser man cower - good thing he wasn't a lesser man - "People who deal in drugs, take prostitutes off street corners, carry guns-"

"Oh you mean this?" He reached to his back and took a gun from the rim of his trousers. He waved it at her before throwing it down on the floor. "You think that's the sort of person I am?"

She flinched. He continued, advancing down the hall towards her. "You think I'm that course? That I'll just sleep with anyone? Kill anyone? Deal to anyone? I'm not stupid Tifa and don't you take me for it!"

He was beginning to scare her now. She hadn't meant to make him angry. It hadn't even crossed her mind that he should be any better than the criminals she normally had to deal with. The comment had just slipped out of her mouth without her thinking of it, it was sort of a habitual concept. "I didn't think-"

"No you didn't. You just think that anyone who gets on the wrong side of the law is the same?" He was shaking visibly now, his hands clenched at his sides. "I didn't think you were so judgemental, but apparently I was wrong. But what about you? Are you perfect? Never slept with anyone just for the hell of it? Carry a gun don't you?"

She nodded as he continued, "What's the difference between you and me carrying a gun? I'm no different than you! You just managed to make it while I didn't!"

When he finished, he was panting, his hands were fisted and he was glaring at her. She nearly flinched. They stood in silence for a moment, before Cloud looked away. This time when he spoke, it was softer. "Tifa, I want you to understand. I know what I'm doing to live is wrong, but I don't want you to see me as something lower than human for it."

Tifa blinked, this wasn't exactly a surprise she supposed, and she'd been expecting it to come down to this, just maybe not as quickly as it had. She opened her mouth to speak, but Cloud wasn't done talking.

"My job. My life. My friends. They're all based around the same pretence that I'll never have, never earn more than that. That I'll forever be chasing after something I can't have, and before now, I didn't want." He paused, seeing how his words were playing across to her. She didn't move an inch.

He continued. "But now, I know what I'm doing, I even know that it's a stupid, foolish thing that normal people don't do. But I don't _want_ to be normal around you Teef. It doesn't really matter to me if you reject me every day, don't want to be with me, because one word from you will solve me forever, but I don't want to be seen as scum in your eyes. That's all."

"I don't see you as scum." She said, looking at the floor, her arms circling protectively round herself. "I don't even think the people you associate with are scum. But it's the body of people who do the same things you do. They're not good people Cloud."

"Maybe not in your eyes, but in mine, they're just another person who didn't get high enough in the grades to get a proper job."

Tifa frowned. She wasn't in her comfort zone, not at all, and she didn't like it one little bit. He wasn't supposed to be making her think like this so much, she was the cop, he was the criminal, but for some reason she had no intention to arrest him, even though he would let her right now. Maybe not later, but now he would. Right now, he was letting her in, making himself vulnerable, so she could see things through his eyes. She knew that even though he was vulnerable for her right now, he could shut himself off in an instant, and tomorrow - if she saw him tomorrow - he would probably act as though nothing had ever been said.

"What about those guys you beat up?" She asked, her frown deepening. "What did you think of them? To punish them so much?"

He shrugged, "They hurt you."

Great, he was drifting off again into the land of laid-back sarcasm. "So you just beat them up and left them outside the police station? Aren't they just another couple of guys who didn't make it?"

He half laughed, "No, they were a couple of guys who shot a cop for no good reason. Wasn't part of their job, they weren't about to be mown down by the law, they had no reason to shoot you, but they did. Four times."

"So why do you carry a gun then if not to shoot people? And if you wanted to escape, wouldn't you try and force your way out?"

"No," he said simply, cocking his head on the side and watching her for a moment. "Tifa, I have only fired a gun twice in my life, once because my cat was getting attacked by buzzards, the other was because I was about to be shot myself. The other guy did 2 weeks in hospital and then 18 months in the slammer. I had reasons."

He reached out a hand and adjusted Tifa's bangs, which had fallen over her face. "I don't want you to be hurt by anything. And those guys did wrong to so many people, they deserve every inch of punishment they get."

She wasn't looking at him anymore, instead staring blankly at the wall to their side. Cloud sighed, taking this as his cue to leave. He turned and walked down the hall, stopping and turning back when he got to the door. She was exactly how he'd left her. He said, "I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm sorry."

Then, he was gone, and the door was shut, and Tifa could blink, the tears of confusion and frustration could fall down her cheeks, and she was free to collapse and slide down the wall, bury her head in her hands and cry because he'd made her think. Far. Too. Much.

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A/N: So.... Waht do we think? Did it come across alright? I know there was a lot of dialogue in there, but it was all stuff I've been think of for a little while and it really did need to be addressed in this chapter. I'm sorry it's so short, but it needs to be cut off from the rest of the story. Next chappy should be a good one :D


	4. Arrested

The bar was packed and noisy, the perfect place to drown his sorrows. After his fight with Tifa he didn't feel like going home, and he certainly didn't want to be alone. So when a pint of Guinness slammed down on the bar in front of him, accompanied by a hefty whack on the back that send him sprawling across the surface, he was all too happy to bury his head in his arms and just groan.

"What's up?"

Cloud shook his head, burrowing further into his folded arms. "I don't wanna talk about it Pup."

Pup nodded, leaning back on the bar next to his friend. "It's that girl ain't it?"

Cloud mumbled, making Pup smile and gaze into the bottom of his glass. "Love is tough man, that's why I never bother with it."

Cloud lifted his head to watch the other man drink before he said, "But I've seen you with the same girl over and over before."

Pup nodded, "Don't love her though. She'd just doing her job and I'm... Giving her business shall we say. Nah, love is tough man. Love, is, tough."

He thought for a moment before turning and placing his glass on the bar counter, before reaching into the inside pocket of his jacket and producing a packet of something. "You know what I always say - When life gets tough and things get tragic, have some spliff it's-"

"-Fucking magic." Cloud finished.

He took the offered packet, considering it for a while, then shoved it into his pocket before slamming his hand down on the bar and yelling to the bartender, "Double shot of whiskey!"

Then he turned back to a slightly smiling Pup, "I feel like getting hammered," He suggested, "How about you?"

Pup growled, slapping him on the back, "That sounds more like it mate. Let's, get, trashed."

"Tifa! I need to talk to you."

Tifa stopped, her hand on the railing, her foot on the step. She turned round to find Police inspector Highwind jogging towards her, his face red, and he was quite out of breath.

"Tifa," He wheezed when he reached her, grabbing onto the rail for support, "We picked up some guy last night, he was shouting about you," He panted, "Thought you might want to know."

Tifa nodded, frowning. Some guy? Shouting about her? Last night? She hoped it wasn't who she thought it might be, but a little tiny piece of her would have been flattered if it was. But then again, why would Cloud be shouting about her?

Once Highwind had caught his breath, they started up the stairs, making their way towards the cells. "I was wondering if you wanted to have the first 'chat' with him?"

Tifa nodded. The little 'chats' were often just to gain understanding of how the person reacted, maybe gather a bit of their 'story', determine whether or not they were a lier. They stopped walking when they got to Cell D5, and Cid unlocked it for them. He stepped back, "Think I can leave you two alone? I've got a tonne of paper work to do. Just shout if you need any help."

Tifa nodded. They both knew she was well able to handle whatever idiot was in that cell, but since her recent accident, The whole department had been treating like she was some sort of time bomb. It was beginning to get annoying.

She watched Cid disappearing down the corridor, then pushed the door open. The only response she could find to the blond man sitting with his back to the wall was to raise an eyebrow and fold her arms in a scolding manner. When the man looked up he groaned. "Oh god Tifa..."

She nodded, still looking less than impressed. "Yes. 'Oh, God'. You got yourself arrested. Mind telling me why?"

"Disturbing the peace?"

Tifa's mouth twitched. She leant back and tugged the file out of the door. "Yes, I should say so," She said, reading the file as she walked further into the room. "You were caught drunk on five avenue, calling my name, stopping passers by, running into the road to stop traffic. I would say that is disturbing the peace!"

Her voice rose hysterically on the last sentence, making Cloud flinch. "Watch it, my head hurts you know."

She strode across the cell and crouched down next to his head. "I don't care if you have the mother of all headaches," She hissed, "You're going to explain to me, why exactly you were running around like a lunatic, entirely drunk, smoking spliff and shouting about me at 2 in the fucking morning."

Cloud groaned, leaning away from her into the wall. "I was having a bad day."

"I could tell. I was having a fairly bad day too, but you don't see me getting wasted and then getting myself arrested do you!"

"But that's because it doesn't matter to you like it does to me."

Tifa paused, frowning, before her hand shot out, twisting in his shirt, and pulling him off the bench to slam him forcefully into the wall. "How dare you say it doesn't matter to me. How dare you!? How do you think you are ever going to succeed in life with that attitude? It's no wonder you wound up in here."

Cloud sputtered, Tifa's hand was digging painfully into his throat where she had him pinned, but with the pounding headache he had, there wasn't really all that much he could do for it. It was only after a few moments of staring each other down, that Tifa released him, and he flopped onto the bench again, clutching his head. "It's your fault."

Tifa tensed, "How is it _my_ fault? You're the one in the wrong. I'm not the one sitting in a cell at the minute."

Cloud sighed. "I wasn't happy after I left your apartment; I needed to take my mind off it. Someone offered me some spliff, and there was alcohol available. It was the perfect scenario for drowning my thoughts in. So I took it. I didn't intend on winding up on 5 ave. shouting your name to the sky."

Tifa moved to sit on the bench by his feet, listening. "So how did you end up on 5th ave?"

"Bar was shutting. Had to go somewhere. Couldn't remember where I left my bike. Started walking..."

_It was cold outside, so cold, and it was raining. It always seemed to rain at night. Except last night, it hadn't rained then. Which was good, because then they would've gotten wet. That was a good night. He always seemed to have good nights with her..._

_So why wasn't he happy? Pleased with himself? The answer was pretty simple. They'd fought. She'd struck a chord with him. A real chord. He had riled up, and had a go at her. Got cross and shouted, really shouted. He never shouted, and yet there he was, shouting at this girl. This amazing, beautiful girl..._

_God he wished he could say sorry. But if wishes were fishes, the river wouldn't have room to flow. Who was it who said that? Don't know... Can't remember... But it was true, he did want to say sorry, did want to apologise, did want to go back in time and make sure it hadn't happened. Maybe, if he told someone, it wouldn't have happened!_

_That man there, he looks like he could help. Excuse me, could you – well that wasn't nice. He was only trying to talk to him, no need to run away. How about that lady? Why was everyone running away? Everyone was always running away. It was how he ended up in this mess. Running away. Pfft!_

_Tifa hadn't run away from him. She had been running towards him, chasing him. Now wasn't that ironic... _

_Why didn't he just say sorry himself? Go to her flat, and say "I'm sorry." Simple as that. She would understand. Of course she would understand. But he needed to get there first. In a car. That car. Ok, what about that one? Or that one? Then he'd just have to catch one himself, if they weren't going to stop for him._

_Now there were people watching him. What was the matter with them, hadn't they ever seen a man distraught in love before? Not as if it was a rarity around here. He saw himself in the mirror plenty of times._

_But why was he in love? Because of her. Because of Tifa. Tifa Lockheart. Pretty name. Pretty girl. How had he ever built up enough good karma to meet a pretty girl like Tifa Lockheart? With such a pretty name. It was like the stars should hear it too, they'd like that._

_He was shouting her name now, calling her pretty, but she was painful to be around. Painful for him, and confusing. He was always confused around her. She was so sporadic, but then, so was he... Wasn't he..._

_Police cars drawing up, Tifa was a police officer; he didn't want to see her. Or he didn't want her to see him, not like this. Either way, the car was not an inviting place to go, much less the station. The stars still had to hear how he felt. Maybe he could tell them from the car. But he would have to shout for them to hear him..._

Tifa frowned. The odd, broken account of how he felt was irritatingly sincere. She couldn't make sense of what he was saying, although it seemed like he was recounting all his emotions and thoughts into one. "Cloud-" She began, but he cut her off.

"Tifa, I didn't mean to yell at you, or shout about you. I wasn't myself. I wasn't... -happy..."

The corner of her mouth twitched down, "Why are you unhappy Cloud?"

"Because Tifa, I like you. Much, much, more than I should do..."

* * *

A/N: Thought I'd stir things up a bit, although now, you're welcome to suggest where it should go from here... I already have a plan for the ending chapter, although don't panic, there is gonna be loads to go before the end. But I'll warn you now. I'm gonna kill off a few people at the end of it all ;)


	5. Relax

**A/N:** Yikes, part 10 already xD Time flies don't it xD Hope you enjoy this, and the only reason there is so much of this stuff being churned out everyday is coz my mate keeps bugging me for more of it lol xD

* * *

Pt 10

Tifa's brow twitched, she wasn't sure about this. "When?"

He frowned, obviously confused. "What?"

She sighed, "When did you decide you liked me?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. I think it was about the same time you got shot. I was really worried, too worried to be indifferent..."

She nodded, contemplating. What he was saying made sense, but she still wasn't convinced. "Am I meant to believe you?"

His eyes widened in surprise, "Of course you're meant to believe me! I just confessed affection for you didn't I?"

She shook her head, "That's not what I meant. I mean; am I meant to believe that you really feel affection for me? And don't just like my face, or intend on using my money or me for-"

"Tifa stop."

His head was hanging now and he looked exhausted. A twinge of guilt rang through her at what she'd said. "Tifa," he whispered, "I told you before that I'm not like that didn't I?"

She nodded.

"So why can't you just take me at my word?" He brought his head up to look her straight in the eye. She saw his sincerity, and she was itching to lower her eyes, away from his bright blue gaze, but she couldn't. "I promise I will never hurt you, ever. I told you before," He paused, reaching forwards to cup her face in his hands, "One word from you will solve me forever. I mean it."

It was all she could do to pull her head gently from his hands, warm and comfortable though they were, and force herself to inspect the file in her hands with more detail than was really necessary. After a moment or two she cleared her throat and stood up, acutely aware of Cloud's blue gaze following her every move like a hawk. "You will stay in this cell until you are deemed sober. Someone will come and fetch you later, you'll be processed, and then you'll be free to go, as you please."

She turned to leave, then added, "And cloud?"

He dipped his chin in affirmation, and she said, "Don't let me hear of you being caught like this again. Please?"

He nodded, a small smile crossing his lips, before his eyes began to shut. She shook her head, he really was impossible, and cute when he was tired. But she really didn't trust his comment about his feelings, not yet. He still had to convince her of that.

"Tifa? Tifa? Are you listening to me? TIFA!!"

"Huh?..." Tifa's head snapped up, and she suddenly became aware of Aerith watching her from across the desk.

"What's the matter with you today?" Aerith huffed, crossing her arms and fixing Tifa with a suspecting look. "Ever since you talked to that guy in the cells this morning, you've been acting weird."

Tifa shrugged, "Just something he said..."

Aerith raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't it the same guy who took you home the other night?"

Tifa nodded. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, feeling uneasy with Aerith's narrowed gaze on her. Thankfully, Aerith seemed to decide that this was far enough for her; this was obviously deeper than she could be bothered with at the moment. She reached across the desk and dumped a load of files in front of Tifa. "Cid wants these on his desk by lunch tomorrow, and I've got a tonne of stuff to do already. Wouldn't mind helping me out would you?"

"No, I don't mind. Leave it with me." Tifa said, pulling the pile of work towards her and forcing a smile. Aerith didn't look convinced, but it drop.

"Bye then, see you tomorrow Tifa. Thanks a bunch." Then she was gone, leaving Tifa alone in the office in her lamp's light. It was going to be a _very_ long night. She could tell. She gave the pile of papers a pensive look, before grabbing them and slotting them into her case. "You had better be interesting, or you're fated for the shredder, and Cid will just have to accept that I lost you."

Then, grabbing her bag and giving the office one last look around for anything she might have forgotten, she flicked off the light, and left.

It was raining when she got outside, and she hadn't thought to bring a coat with her, so there was really no alternative other than to walk home in the wet cold. All the walk back to the apartment, Tifa's mind was somewhere else entirely, and she had to apologise to a woman for walking into her. By the time Tifa reached the steps outside her building, she was soaked through, her hair was hanging limply round her face, and she looked like she was about to cry. With nothing to distract her, her thoughts had trailed back to the conversation in the cells. She couldn't say there was no affection for him on her part, because there was. It was difficult not to care for someone when you'd seen them torn so openly in front of you.

_Why did he have to say that after what happened yesterday? _She thought to herself as she turned the key in the lock. Letting herself into the hall, she slipped her feet out of her shoes, and dropped her case by the door to the kitchen. First things first, a nice hot shower was in order, followed by a steaming mug of hot chocolate, and maybe even a hot water bottle.

Once she was done in the shower, and dressed in some leggings and a baggy top, her hair all pulled pack into a half bun, and feeling all the better for it, she walked into the kitchen to make herself a hot chocolate. While she was rummaging around in the cupboard for the cocoa, she realised she hadn't eaten at all that day, and her stomach was complaining at her.

Grumbling again, but now with a hot chocolate and hot water bottle, she fetched her bag, and settled down at the dining room table to do some more work. It seemed all she was doing at the station now was paper work, since her accident, she hadn't even had a sniff of action, and she was supremely bored because of it. Her promise of shredding the papers was sounding better and better by the minute, they were so incredibly boring.

She was halfway through her second mug of chocolate, and was stalling on the fifth document when she heard a key turn in her lock. She froze, part of her hoping against hope that it was Cloud, mainly because she wouldn't have much of a fight on her hands, and the other half... Well, she didn't want to have to face him if it was.

As a result, Tifa wasn't certain whether or not she was relieved when a blond spiky head appeared round the doorway, looking slightly sheepish. "Hello." He murmured.

"Hello." She replied. They stayed staring at each other for a while, before Cloud stepped awkwardly into the room, and Tifa found she had something she had been meaning to ask. "Where did you get that key?"

He paused, then held up the key he had let himself in with, "This one? Had it made. Why?"

She raised an eyebrow, "How many doors does that key fit?"

"Most."

"Why am I not surprised..."

She went back to her work, touching the pen to the paper, before realising she had no idea what to write. Reaching into the bag by her side, she rummaged around for a file, grumbling about the work that was being loaded onto her. In all fairness, she had said she would do it, but still, this was difficult work!

Cloud watched her bring out the file, open it on the desk, flick through some pages, whine in frustration, and drop her head on the table. "What?" She muttered to the surface. "It's hard work..."

Chuckling, he strode over, yanked the chair out a bit further, and slid in behind her. Tifa's head snapped up from the table as she spluttered, "What- What're you doing?!"

"Helping." He stated, plucking the pen from her fingers, and placing it on the paper. He could tell she was going red, their cheeks were so close together he could feel the heat emanating off her. If he turned his head slightly – he was resting on her shoulder – he could look at her from the corner of his eye, and she would redden even more – if that were even possible.

Tifa was amazed at how easily he seemed to be able to write about the cases. He seemed to know everything there was to know about them, and how to put it into words, it made Tifa jealous. Impressed, but jealous. "Why do you know so much about these cases?"

"You get to meet all sorts in this line of work. Word travels fast, everyone knows what everyone did."

"Oh." Seemed like a simple enough explanation, even if it _was_ a little bland. Tifa almost jumped when Clouds arm looped round her middle as he leant to pick out another document. She didn't miss the slight smirk on his face. "Don't think it's all fine and dandy now. You still haven't explained what you meant by 'liking me too much'."

Cloud sighed, placing the pen on the table, and letting both hands fall to her hips. He settled back in the chair and said, "What does it sound like I meant?"

Tifa pouted, she didn't appreciate being put on the spot like this. "It sounded like a confession of love, but you were too wussy to say the words."

The corner of his mouth twitched, "Would you like it to be a confession of love?"

"No, not really."

"Oh... Mind me asking why not?"

She sighed, really wanting to relax into the chair, but she didn't want to give him the wrong idea either. "Because it'll make things so much more complicated if there's any sort of affection between us."

His low chuckle almost had her leaning into him, and she had to fight to keep herself on the straight and narrow. "Haven't you ever thought? That I want it to be complicated?"

She turned her head to look at him out of the corner of one eye. Damn him, he looked so comfortable and relaxed like that, with that half smile and the mischievous look in his deep blue... "Why would you want it to be complicated?"

"So I'll be the only one with the answers." He said bluntly. At the smirk on his face, Tifa turned back to the documents on the table.

"Leave them for tonight." He said, his fingers tightening on her hips, "you need to relax a bit Teef. You're so _tense_."

She shivered as his hands passed over her back, pausing on her shoulders to knead at her shoulder blades, easing out knots she didn't even know were there. "It's your fault," She said, voice barely above a whisper, "You're the one stressing me out."

"Oh, I'm sorry," He cooed, hands moving to her sides, thumbs pressing into her back, again moving in slow, small circles over the muscle. "I'm sure I can fix that."

Tifa wasn't prepared for his lips to travel along the back of her neck, although somehow she was expecting it. She shivered as his breath blew across her shoulder as he talked, "This is where you relax Tifa."

Despite herself, she couldn't help the laugh that escaped her at the teasing, coaxing tone in his voice, as he continued to knead and kiss, and whisper her into relaxation. And she had to admit, he was indeed, fixing it.

* * *

**A/N:** So? What do you think? Did I do that alright? Do you want more Cloti action? Or more plot? Or should I moderate it? xD I said before that I have a basic idea for the plot, but that will all come later. For now I am happy to take any suggestions as there are a few chapters which will be filled with them establishing a relationship, and that is pretty much an open ground right there guys xD So Talk! Tell me what you want from meeeee!! X'(

Just kidding ;)


	6. Fish and chips xD

**_A/N:_** I really apologise for the lateness of this upload, but I have the next chapter basically planned out from here :) so it should be up soon, tomorrow maybe :) Anyways, read and enjoy, and any suggestions woul be greatly appreciated as a review ;] Cheers! x]

* * *

So comfortable. So warm. So relaxed. So... Hungry.

She hadn't eaten since that morning, and now it was late at night, and her stomach was complaining like mad, she was sure he would hear it. But she was so comfy, all curled up in his lap, with his arms locked round her, and his quiet calm breath ghosting coolly over her, that she didn't want to get up and find some food. Unfortunately, her stomach only seemed to be focusing on one of her wants, and gave a particularly loud growl. She felt Cloud shifting behind her, and she flicked her eyes to look sheepishly at his slightly incredulous expression.

"When was the last time you ate?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

She wrinkled her nose, "Around 7:30 this morning."

A look of slight surprise flashed across his features before he said, almost scoldingly "You need to take better care of yourself!"

She averted her eyes and muttered "I _do_ take care of myself."

He nodded, "Of course you do." He paused long enough for her to stick her tongue out, he was talking about the shooting accident of course, then he said, "What food have you got in your kitchen?"

"Not much," she confessed, "Bananas and that's about it."

"Come out to dinner with me then."

Her eyes widened at his suggestion and her heart must have skipped a beat, but she declined anyway. He sighed, looking disappointed. "Sorry Cloud," She apologised, "But I'm tired, I've already had a shower and got ready to sleep, and I'm far too comfortable right now to even _think_ about leaving my home."

He sighed, then his face seemed to light up as he got an idea. Slipping a hand under her knees, he lifted her and carried her effortlessly to the sofa, where he dumped her, then dragged a blanket over her legs and midriff. "You stay here then," He said, making sure she was wrapped up comfortably, "And I'll go buy you something to eat."

"No, Cloud that's not..." She tried to plead with him but he was already shrugging on his jacket, and before she could finish her sentence, the front door was clicking shut, and she could hear him jogging down the corridor outside. "Necessary..." She finished.

Well, she supposed there was nothing she could do to stop him now. Yawning, she snuggled down to wait.

Outside, it was still raining and Cloud was moaning about his lack of initiative in not thinking to bring his keys, which were still on Tifa's dining table, and if he went back to fetch them, she would try and talk him out of buying her food to eat. But it was something he wanted to do, he wanted to buy things for her. He had after all told the girl he liked her, so why try and hide it?

He dug his hands into his pockets, and began walking. He didn't have the foggiest idea what he was going to get for her. He didn't want to come back with some tacky pot of noodles, but he couldn't afford to buy an entire gourmet meal. Besides, it was nearly 11 pm and he didn't know many places round here that would sell food that late.

He stopped in front of a shop window and peered in. Would she be terribly offended if he bought her chish and fips? It was hardly the boyfriend thing to do, but then again, he wasn't her boyfriend was he. Yet.

He was still struggling over his options when someone said his name. He focused on the door of the chippy, and found that a familiar pair of blue eyes and a veritable mane of black hair was looking back at him. He bristled, "Hello best mate."

The man cringed, "Hey man, how you doing?"

"Fine," Cloud replied, folding his arms and leaning into an unimpressed pose, "Just got out of the cells this morning. How are _you_?"

He cringed again, taking a step forward, "I'm sorry you got arrested Cloud man, but there was nothing we could really do! You were downing the alcohol like it was your life force or something, even drank Reno under the table, and you were so stuck to that spliff I couldn't even tear it from your fingers." He raised his hands either side of his head. "You were a mess man, I tried to help, really I did!"

Cloud raised an eyebrow sceptically, then dropped it, his face falling. "I know Zack, I know..." He looked at his shoes; the soggy trainers were looking a little more worse for wear than they normally did, a bit like their owner. "I'm sorry I blamed you, but I really want to thank you actually," he said looking up at the now slightly puzzled looking man. "I was still a bit out of it this morning, so I told her that I was sorry and I sort of confessed."

"Really?" Zack now both looked and sounded impressed, and had struck up the same pose as Cloud, obviously interested. "How'd you manage that? Didn't scream it from the other end of the room or something?"

"Pfft no," Cloud laughed, his good humour returning, "I told her I liked her more than I should do, and that I care about her too much to be indifferent."

Zack whistled, "Wow. What did she say?"

"She started ranting about how I was just saying that to get her money and all that shit from her."

"But you don't right?"

"Of course not! And that's what I said, I said I wasn't going to hurt her, and that I'd already told her before I wasn't like that so why couldn't she just accept that as it was. I told her that she would only have to say so, and I wouldn't bother her again and-"

"Wait, you did _what?!_"

Cloud frowned, "I told her 'one word from you will solve me forever'."

Zack ooed, shaking his head, and threw an arm around Cloud's shoulders, "Now that, my friend, is called too-much-freedom."

"Too much?"

"Yes. If you give her too much freedom, she'll feel like she has no obligations towards you. She'll start running herself all over the town and before you know it she'll be happily married and pregnant by somebody else."

"Pregnant...?" Cloud repeated, feeling slightly incredulous, but a little worried too, although he wouldn't admit it.

"Yup," Zack ploughed on, unaware of his friend's discomfort, "Pregnant. If you tell her that you won't bother her anymore, then she'll be relieved and start looking for fun with other people who aren't going to bug her all the time."

"I'm not bugging her!" Cloud bristled.

"I'm not saying you are, but you have to keep it in mind, it might be different from her perspective."

"Yeah, well, from my perspective it's raining and I'm getting cold and wet and I told her I would buy her food and that's what I'm gonna do."

Zack arched an eyebrow and removed his arm from round Cloud's shoulders. "Alright man, alright, I was only trying to help."

"Yeah, I'll bet," Cloud dismissed him, "Look what happened the last time you tried to help. Got me arrested didn't it, all your advice."

Zack rubbed the back of his head ruefully. "Yeah, sorry about that man. I _was_ only trying to help, honest."

Nodding vaguely, Cloud stepped past him, and into the chippy. A wave of warm air caught him as he stepped inside, and he shivered slightly. Still, it smelt nice in here, if a little fatty. He wondered, should he get some for himself too? He walked to the end of the line, and peered through the cabinet windows at all the crispy, golden food that was sitting there, just waiting to be eaten.

As much as he tried to concentrate on choosing the food, he couldn't help his mind straying back to what Zack had been saying. Was he bugging her? Would she really just run herself all over the place having sex with anyone and everyone? He didn't think so, but then again, he didn't really know her all that well did he. For all he knew, she might have a number of different 'friends' that she saw on a regular basis... And Zack was his friend, he wouldn't feed Cloud lies would he? He would only say things to protect him right? Right?!

"Sir? Have you chosen yet or are you going to stand there staring doe-eyed at that sausage all night?"

He looked up to find the server standing on the other side of the glass. The rest of the queue had all been served and gone on. "Urm," He fumbled with the money in his pocket and pointed to the golden battered fish, "Cod and chips twice..."

The guy behind the counter nodded, grabbing a pair of tongs and fishing around in the cabinet, "Didn't want that sausage anyway then huh..."

Cloud rubbed the back of his head, "Wasn't thinking straight that's all..."

"Yeah well man, we all have problems," he said, passing the bag over the counter, "that's a fiver then mate." Cloud handed over the money, then pushed his way out of the shop, pulling his hood up as he went.

When he got back to Tifa's apartment, he was soaked through and his teeth were chattering. He put the bag of fish and chips down on the table, then went to check on Tifa. She was curled up on the sofa exactly where he left her. The shallow breathing and light fluttering of her eyelids told him she was asleep, and dreaming. He smiled slightly, she was so beautiful when she was sleeping, the usual tense lines in her face all smoothed out as she relaxed.

Pity though, now she wouldn't get to eat the food while it was still warm. He sighed as he looked down at her and shivered. She wouldn't mind if he had a shower would she? He almost turned to go, then thought _I don't have a change of clothes, I can't shower and then have nothing to change into..._

He wrinkled his nose as he looked about. The chair by the side table was still there and it was looking quite inviting right now. He trundled over to it and flopped down, his gaze settling back onto Tifa's sleeping form. Gods he was cold, and she looked so soft and warm, snuggled up in a blanket, how much did he just want to crawl under that blanket with her, wrap his arms around her still form and be warm. Roasty toasty warm...

He shivered again and took off his jacket, dumping the sodden lot on the floor, then looking at it pensively. She would kill him if he ruined her floor, best to put it in the sink or something. Getting up, he picked up the jacket, walked into the bathroom and dropped it into the sink. At least there it couldn't cause any trouble.

* * *

Tifa groaned, reaching her hands above her head and stretching, squeaking comfortably as she did so. Blinking in the light, she looked around. Why was she on the sofa? Oh yeah, Cloud left her there while he went to fetch her food, even though she told him not to. She looked around and saw the bag on the dining table; Barney's Plaice. He bought fish and chips? The thought made her smile.

Something shifted in the edge of her gaze and she looked down to find Cloud curled up on the floor beside the sofa. He was shivering and his lips were blue. Her eyes widened as she rolled off the sofa and onto her knees beside him, "Cloud? Are you alright?"

He blinked slowly at her, then moaned, turning his face away, his arms folding further round himself. She reached out to touch his arm and frowned when her fingers met cold, wet cotton. Why hadn't he done anything about being wet?

"Cloud, you need to get up," she said, taking one of his arms, and winding it over her shoulders, "You need to take these clothes off, you'll freeze to death in them."

He groaned, shaking his head and trying to pull his arm back. "Too cold..." he mumbled when she tried to retake his arm.

"Cloud," she urged him, "I'm being serious. You might have hypothermia or something."

He looked sideways at her from under hooded eyelids, considering. Then, without warning, he reached out, cold fingers closing round her wrist, and pulled her down onto him, rolling slightly to catch her on his front. She caught herself on one hand just in time. "Please?" He pleaded, "Too cold to move anywhere else..."

She frowned, then carefully fit herself around him, dragging the blanket off the sofa and over them both. Now she was so close to him, she could feel how cold he was to the touch, and he was shivering so much it was uncomfortable. He was breathing oddly and it worried her.

He was looking at her, his bright blue eyes hooded and flickering. "Why didn't you take the clothes off?" She asked, smoothing some hair from his face – it fell straight back again.

"Didn't think you'd want to wake up to find some naked man in your living room." He mumbled, shivering, his arms pinning her warmth to him.

"Gods, you're like an ice cube," she observed, "A very considerate ice cube. Why didn't you..."

"No change of clothes," He cut her off. "Still would have been naked."

She pursed her lips, thinking. "Then why did you come back here if knew what your situation would be?"

"I told you I'd bring you food. Didn't wanna be a liar as well as a druggy..."

He was beginning to scoot down further into the blanket and now all she could see was the top of his spikes. "Are you feeling a bit warmer?" She asked, ruffling the tops.

"A bit..."

"Good, because you can't stay on the floor all day."

He peeked out at her, his eyes a bit brighter, more open and playful. "Do you have a bed?"

She raised an eyebrow at the inane question and resisted the urge to shake her head in bewilderment. "Of course." She replied with a touch of sarcasm, noticing how his eyes twinkled with something she wasn't sure she liked, but it was relieving none the less.

"Are you going to help me move to it?"

The other eyebrow followed the first as she said, "What makes you think I would let you into my bed?"

Despite his being a criminal, he was very good at feigning the innocent look, "Because you said I couldn't stay on the floor... I thought ill people went to bed...?"

"Their _own_ beds." She smiled, levering herself up on one arm anyway, giving him a sympathetic look when he moaned about the sudden cold. She put a hand to his forehead, but snatched it back almost immediately. "Gods, you're frozen!" She exclaimed, looking down at his disgruntled expression.

"Tell me about it..." He groaned, trying to prop himself up too, but struggling. Much to his enjoyment, Tifa's arms wound themselves around him and pulled him to sit up. He groaned a bit more as his head swam painfully. "Do you have any neurofen?" He asked hopefully.

"Yeah I do, hang on I'll get it for you!" She said, making to stand up but his sudden hold on her forcing her to stop.

"Don't go," He mumbled, frowning, "I'll fall over if you do."

She nodded, should she prop him up on the sofa and go get the neurofen? Or stick him in her bed first and _then_ go get it? Gently, she wound his arm around her shoulder, and carefully pulled him to his feet. Her hand on his chest steadied him as they walked to the bed. He collapsed onto it with a moaned "Ow..."

She gave him a sympathetic look, dragged the duvet over him, then went to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee and the drugs. When she came back she found him struggling with his shirt. She put the things down on the bedside table and took over where he left off, tugging his hands away, then pulling the top – which turned out to be actually very baggy – over his head and down along his arms.

"Now this is a new one," He smirked, "Don't usually let people undress me you know."

She raised an eyebrow and folded the shirt in her lap, "I see you're feeling better already?"

He shook his head, reaching slowly for the coffee and painkillers on the dresser. "Mother of all headaches sitting right here."

"Well that makes sense," she said, getting them for him and putting them in his hands, "You had a hangover yesterday and now you've got yourself a cold from spending the night in sodden clothing."

The corners of his lips turned up as he drank, popping out two tablets with his free hand. When he'd swallowed them and pulled a face at the combination of drugs and caffeine, Tifa speculated, "Your lips are blue."

He stuck his bottom lip out and mumbled, "Are they? I can't tell from here."

She smiled at how silly he looked and nodded, "Take my word for it, they're blue. Now are you going to take those trousers off or am..."

He looked up when she stopped, a grin beginning to sidle onto his expression, "Are you offering to undress me Lockheart?"

She narrowed her eyes, then took the cup and remaining drugs from him and put them on the table. She stood up and made to leave, the sound of his jeans being pushed to the floor reaching her just before she closed the door, leaning against it when it was shut. Gods... What was she going to do now? He was clotheless in her bed! And all those well toned, well defined... anyway... How was she going to be able to react like a cop in _this_ situation?!

* * *

**_A/N:_** There few, it's gone xD suggestions for the next little bit are appreciated on how they can establish a relationship x]


	7. Doctors and Nurses

Pt 12

_Over the knot, under the knot, over the knot, under the knot, over the kn-_

"That's not how you do it."

Tifa squeaked, almost jumping out of her skin as Aerith's head appeared over her shoulder, a hand appearing over the other shoulder to pluck the knot from her fingers.

"You have to think about the way the knot is built," Aerith explained, untying the mess within a few seconds, "There are different parts that are holding it together, you have to understand them if you're going to understand and complete the knot itself."

Tifa nodded, watching as Aerith deftly tied the knot and held it up. "But I keep trying, and it never really works. I think I get lost somewhere in the middle."

Aerith smiled as she untied the knot again and sat down in the chair on the opposite side of Tifa's desk. "Where did you get this from anyway?" She asked.

"A training program." Tifa said, reaching over the desk to take back the string.

Aerith frowned. "A training program? But we haven't done a training program in 6 months..." She paused, realisation colouring her features. "Tifa, have you been struggling with this for _6 months_?!"

Tifa pouted, doggedly re-attempting the knot and ignoring Aerith, who was bent double with laughter, tears appearing in her eyes, clutching the edge of the desk to stop herself toppling off the chair and onto the floor. "Gosh," Aerith gasped when she was recovered enough to sit fully in the chair, "You're so funny! Why don't you just give up! You don't have to be perfect at it; you probably won't even use a knot like that."

"But I _want _to be able to do it." Tifa whined, "It annoys me when I can't do something!"

"I know," Aerith giggled, "Like that one time when you couldn't hit the can off the wall, you spent so much time throwing those knives at it and then you just gave up and shot it down!"

A smile broke across Tifa's face at the memory, "Yeah, exactly like that."

They sat reminiscing for a moment before Aerith leapt up out of her chair, beaming, "Our shift's over, why don't we go somewhere?"

An excited grin flashed across Tifa's face, before she remembered and her face fell, "I can't Aerith, sorry..."

"Oh, why not?"

"I h-have..." Tifa paused. She couldn't very well tell her that she was keeping a sick criminal in her home and that he was in her bed wearing nothing but his boxers, even the thought nearly made her blush. "To... sort my friend out..."

Aerith raised an eyebrow, probably making assumptions about this 'friend', but shrugged and turned to grab her coat, throwing Tifa's at her just in time for it to land over her head as she lowered her eyes to the string in her hands. Fine, be that way...

When she got into her apartment, she shrugged off the jacket and went to go check on Cloud, who was still sleeping soundly, the covers tucked right up under his chin, his hair ruffled and sticking out at all angles. Truth be told, he looked very sweet all cuddled up in bed. He looked a bit pink actually.

Walking over, she poked a hand under the tickly spikes and felt his forehead. It was really warm and felt as though he was coming down with a fever. She sighed, picked up the empty mug from the bedside table and turned to leave. "Teef?"

She turned back at the feeble voice to see his bright blue eyes peeking out of the covers at her. He coughed pathetically, "Can I have a drink of water?"

Nodding, she turned and left, closing the door behind her and conducting a silent serenade about how utterly _cute_ he was, even if he was ill. Straightening her clothing after her little girly moment, she walked into the kitchen, shoved the mug in the dishwasher, and got a fresh glass from the cupboard and filled it with water.

When she returned, he was sitting up in bed and was breaking out a couple more painkillers with shaking hands. She handed him the water and watched as he downed it, along with the pills in one. She caught the glass as he dropped it suddenly, his hand coming up to clutch at his head as he groaned and collapsed back on the pillows. Her eyes widened, "Cloud?!"

"M'fine..." He mumbled, hardly moving on the bed, even as his eyes flickered open for a brief moment to rest on her, "Just the cold water..."

"Oh," Tifa breathed a sigh of relief, "I thought I'd killed you or something..."

"No," He mumbled, "But I might survive better if you were down here with me?"

She narrowed her eyes at his suggestion and left to re-fill the glass. When she came back, he was already asleep, the covers only coming up to his waist, one hand thrown over his face. She put the glass on the table and tugged the covers up to his neck at least, if not for his sake, for hers.

She sighed as her stomach grumbled and wondered what he'd want to eat. She wasn't much of a cook, but she wasn't incapacitated either, so she could make it edible at the least. And since he was in no fit shape to go home himself, she was going to have to feed him something; she doubted he would have eaten during the day.

Diner it turned out was going to be a pasta bake, and while she was waiting for the pasta to boil, she decided to shove his clothes in the washing machine, fishing the jacket from the sink and bunging that in there too. It also gave her a bit of time to sit down and worry about the knot a bit more, but not for long as the pasta was boiled then and she still hadn't done the cheese sauce.

After a panic and rush around about the food, she was done and finished and had two platefuls of it on a tray. Well, it was a bit mean to confine him to the bed and then leave him there alone; besides, she had to make sure he didn't fall asleep in it or something.

"Cloud." She jogged his shoulder, smiling when he opened his eyes and moved the hand from across his face. He looked groggily at her, before sitting up slowly with her help. "Do you want something to eat?" She asked.

"What is it?" He mumbled, shutting his eyes and allowing for his head to stop swimming.

"Pasta bake."

"Not really... But it looks good..."

She paused; not knowing whether to be offended that he didn't want to eat it, or flattered by the fact he said it looked good. She picked up a plate and some cutlery and held it out to him, but ended up having to put it in his lap for him because he was too weak even to hold the plate. Then she picked up the remaining plate and climbed onto the bed beside him, sitting cross-legged with her food in front of her.

He watched her getting comfortable, then looked at the food on his plate. It did look nice, and he was really hungry, but he was feeling sick anyway and if he was going to chuck he didn't want it to be something she'd cooked for him. Great proclamation of love that would be, "You've cooked me something really nice, here, would you like to see it back again?" He wrinkled his nose.

"Is there something wrong with it?"

He looked up to find Tifa watching him with a vaguely offended expression, "No! There's nothing wrong with it!"

"Then why are you pulling a face?"

"Just.... something I thought..." He mumbled, putting the first forkful in his mouth and stopping, his eyes wide like saucers.

"What?" Tifa asked worried, eating some hurriedly in case it tasted revolting and she'd inadvertently fed him something disgusting. Just as she was thinking it tasted fine – thank goodness-

"It's delicious!" He almost squealed, shovelling it in as fast as he could and still manage to chew. Tifa grinned in self-satisfaction and dug into her own plate, watching him out of the corner of her eye, happily scoffing the food.

When they'd finished eating, she collected their plates and took them into the kitchen, stooping to put them in the dishwasher. Straightening up, she was just turning to grab a glass of water, when the phone rang in her room. Great! If Cloud was trying to sleep, it would have woken him up immediately!

She rushed into her room, passing the comfy looking Cloud who had propped himself up on some pillows, and grabbed the phone, growling into the handset "Yes?"

"Tifa? It's Rude. Are you alright?"

"Oh!" Tifa exclaimed surprised, "Sorry, I thought you were going to be another one of those salesmen. How are you?"

"I'm alright. I was thinking I hadn't spoken to you in a while, so I wanted to give you a ring, see if you were available?"

"Yeah..." Tifa said uncertainly, wrinkling her nose as she gave Cloud a look. He was watching her with a slightly confused look on his face. "Hang on I need to switch rooms..." She said, pointing at Cloud then putting her hands together by the side of her head, signalling to him he should sleep. He frowned at her and mouthed 'Who?'.

Shaking her head, she pointed at him again and repeated the gesture. On the other end of the line Rude asked, "Is this a bad time? You seem a bit distracted."

"No," Tifa smiled, giving up on Cloud and walking to the door, "This isn't a bad time at all!"

When the door had clicked shut, Cloud frowned even deeper. It was obvious that there was some guy on the other end of the phone, and Tifa didn't want him to know who. His mind sped back to what Zack had said, _"She'll start looking for fun with other people who aren't going to bug her all the time." _He decided he had to know, and slid down the bed to lie flat on his back, slowing his breathing to listen intently. He could just about make out the conversation going on the other side of the door. One-sided though it was.

"It's just Cloud was trying to sleep."

_No he flipping well wasn't! He was actually very awake now he had some warm food inside him and was feeling __**much**__ better thank you very nicely!_

"He's just a friend Rude, that's all, don't worry..."

_That's all! That wasn't bloody all! Wait until he finds out him being in her bed! (Smug look)_

"Is there a problem with him sleeping in my bed?"

_Not from the person in the bed there's not, but if it makes him jealous, it's all worth it._

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that, do you think I should move him then?"

_What?! Move him? No don't move him! He rather likes it here, he would have you know!_

"He's ill."

_Certainly __**far**__ too ill to be moved anywhere..._

"I don't know, he was really cold and he looked blue this morning. He was out in the rain and then didn't bother to change."

_Out in the rain getting __**her **__food he would remind everyone. And she didn't even eat it! (Sniff sniff)_

"I know, what an idiot! Haha, no I know though!"

_Pfft! Idiot yourself! He wouldn't be in this sorry state if it hadn't been for her neglecting to feed herself._

"When? Tomorrow? Yeah, I guess I'm free then."

_Wait, what? Free? To see __**him**__!? But this couldn't happen! This was __**dreadful**__!_

"Alright, I'll see you then. Bye Rude!"

The door swung in and Tifa skipped in with a huge grin on her face, dancing her way over to practically slam the phone back in the charger. He couldn't help himself, "You're seeing another guy?"

The excitement flickered on her face before she bit her bottom lip and said, "Shouldn't you be sleeping? You're ill remember."

He frowned as she went round the opposite side of the bed and dug around in the dresser, pulling out a top and shorts and disappearing into the bathroom, leaving Cloud watching her receding arse with a decidedly unhappy expression.

When Tifa came back in her sleep-wear, she frowned at the back of Cloud's head. It wasn't as though she'd never shared a bed with anyone, but that was her best friend, and he'd never tried to do anything to her before. Unlike _someone_ she knew. Sighing, she walked over to the bed and climbed in, keeping as close to her edge as she could and still have any of the covers.

"I don't bite you know." He said, sounding very depressed. He looked over her shoulder at his rigid form and nodded, knowing full-well he couldn't see it. His mood was infectious it seemed as he'd brought her previously sugary disposition to an all time low.

"Can you turn the light off? The switch is by your head." She winced as he punched out the lights, literally, and added "Please don't break my wall..."

* * *

_**A/N:**_ Well, I'm really sorry for the massive wait, but you'll be pleased to read that I have got up to chapter 17 ready to post, and that is my gift of apology to you all... Sorry about the long wait x( Internet problem... :(

But anyway, what did you think??


	8. Dreamworld

Pt 13

Light was registered somewhere on the other side of her eyelids, and the dream world she had been so happy in for the last 7 hours faded into a hazy orange glow. She opened her eyes to the sight of her bedroom wall and all it's accompanying posters and pictures. This was a rarity at best, as normally she would be facing the full length window that overlooked the city and her morning would be started with the sunrise.

This morning however was different, as this morning, she was waking up with a man in her bed. This was also a rarity at best and she would have liked it to be following something of an occasion, a proposal perhaps, but sadly this wasn't the case as the man who was sharing her bed was nothing but an idiot who'd made himself too ill to be moved anywhere else.

She lay still for what seemed like an age, wondering what she should do. If the truth was to be told, she was a bit scared to roll over. Her morning-before-the-coffee-hits face was not her prettiest, and she might have ended up a little closer to him than she would be comfortable with. The thought of just not doing anything did occur to her, but that was just too tedious for words.

She was saved any further dilemma however, as it would have seemed he was already awake, and had noticed that she must be also. She settled her expression befitting one who was seriously peeved as his arm dropped down over her as he sat up, bracketing her between his body and his hand, sinking into the mattress. He yawned. She sighed.

"Morning..." He mumbled, sounding very sleepy, and when Tifa looked at him out of the corner of her eye, he looked very sleepy too, his hair was all mussed and his bright blue eyes were still sort of foggy. Damn him for being so hot. He was also topless which didn't help her case and she felt herself going red even as she asked, "Good night?"

"Yeah," He said, giving her a sleepy grin that looked almost, mischievous, "I had a _great_ night. How about you? Did _you_ sleep well?"

"Oh my gods," She narrowed her eyes, attempting to pull the covers from under his hand, which was difficult as it was holding most of his weight, "What did you do to me?"

"_Me_ do something to _you_!" He opened his eyes as wide as he could get them, feigning surprise, "_You_ were the one doing things to _me_! I'm the victim here!"

She raised an eyebrow disbelievingly, "I did something to you did I?"

"Yes." He said simply, wiggling his eyebrows, "Why d'you think my night was so _fantastic_?"

Even though she was pretty sure she hadn't done anything in her sleep, she couldn't help the line of curiosity running through her. "What did I do then?"

Cloud smirked. Should he tell her what she really did, or what she did with the help of his imagination? "Well, I was in a bit of a mood because you wouldn't tell me about the phone call, so I couldn't sleep properly, and just as I was drifting off you started talking..."

"_But I can't do that knot Cid!"_

_I paused in my brooding at the sound of her voice, so frustrated and upset. Rolling over onto my back, I could just see the back of her head in the darkness. Who the blazes was Cid?! Was he another lover? And what did he have to do with knots? I felt something tie in the pit of my stomach as she mumbled, "or that one..."_

_It was fairly obvious she was dreaming, anyone with more than half a brain cell could work that out, and my half-brain-cell was working over time. Would she answer if I talked back to her? I'm sure I'd heard someone say if you spoke to someone while they were sleeping they would still answer you._

"_Tifa, I'm not bothered about the knots."_

_I mentally crossed my fingers, holding my breath as she stilled, then answered hesitantly, "You're not?"_

"_No," I grinned, happy my plan was working, and struggling to keep my voice at a level, "But I would like to know what you're going to do with Rude tomorrow."_

"_Eat him up." She muttered, mimicking peeling a banana. I raised an eyebrow, the excitement at the success of my plan fading somewhat._

"_Do you like him?"_

"_Of course."_

"_Do you like me?"_

"_I love you Ciddy-sloth"_

_Ciddy-sloth? Please god, I pitied this poor bloke, both for what I would do to him if we ever met, and for being dubbed 'Ciddy-sloth'. "And Cloud Strife? What do you think about him?"_

_She paused, pulling a thinking face and I held my breath, almost involuntarily, and began preparing myself for a massive bout of depression. Finally, she said "He smells nice. And he's soft."_

_I couldn't help but feel elated, even though that wasn't exactly what I meant at least I knew she didn't hate me. "He's soft?"_

"_Mhmm... Soft, when he's trying to be a jerk, he's still really soft."_

"_Gentle you mean."_

"_I would hardly call him gentle. But he's soft. And he looks nice."_

_There was a small grin spilling across my face and I made no move to stop it, my ego was inflated to bursting point by her comments, even if she was asleep. It was almost easier to talk to her this way, when I didn't have to worry about making a fool of myself because even if I did, she wouldn't remember it in the morning anyway. "Do you love him?"_

_There was a long minute of silence, and for a moment I thought I'd over stepped some invisible line, but then she said sadly, "I'm not allowed to love him, am I Cid..."_

_I frowned, "Why do you say that?"_

"_Because, I'm not... Allowed... He's the bad guy, and I'm the good girl. And good girls don't love bad boys."_

"_Good girls don't __**date**__ bad boys, but they can still fall in love with them." The words slipped out of my mouth before I'd even properly thought it through myself. Still, it sounded flashy._

"_Really? You think I can fall in love Cid?" She asked, sounding miserable, but hopeful all the same._

"_Of course you can fall in love Teef... Anyone can fall in love, but for some people, you only fall in love once... He only hopes he's the one." I realised my own voice sounded miserable too, as if in consoling her, I had brought up a swell of my own doubts and emotions. What a thought that was, heart to heart with a sleep talker, huh?_

_She nodded, rolling over to press her lips to my shoulder, whispering "Thank you Cloud. Or Canary. Or whoever you're calling yourself tonight. I needed that..."_

_My heart must have stopped, or skipped a beat or something, because I was flushing hot and cold all over, and the patch of my shoulder she had kissed tingled, and I wanted to touch it, but I didn't want that tingling feeling to fade. That was the first time she'd ever kissed me. Sure I'd kissed her before and she'd complied, but she did this by herself this time. And god did it make my heart swell when I realised she didn't call me Cid once in that last whispered confession. She must have known it was me..._

"...Gosh I couldn't get rid of you!" He laughed, enjoying the shade of red she'd gone. He touched her cheek, "You're blushing. Remembered something have we?"

She pushed him away, scooting to the edge of the bed and disappearing into the bathroom faster than he thought was even possible. He could have sworn he heard her mumble "Just a dream I had..."

* * *

_**A/N:**_ This might seem like a filler chapter, but it's actually kind of important. So what did you think? Are we liking the fluff? Are we unhappy to hear that this is pretty much the last of it?? xD The plot bunnies attacked for the next chapter xD


	9. Once bitten

Pt 14

The bar was a small affair on the edge of the city. It was a fairly ordinary looking place both inside and out, with tables for eating at, pool tables surrounded by people with beers and cues, there was a dart board on the wall next to the door, and the bar was set down a level, with stools around three sides, the fourth side holding the coffee machine and fridge. It was here that Tifa and Rude had agreed to meet.

Walking in, Tifa peered around for Rude and found him sitting at one of the many tables. He had his sunglasses on as usual, even thought it wasn't all that bright inside. He'd always been that way if she remembered. When he saw her, he stood up, clasping his hands in front of himself and waiting until she had walked over before holding out his hand for her to shake. She ignored the proffered hand and instead pulled him into a hug, which he hesitantly, although undoubtedly returned.

"It's been so long since I saw you," Tifa said happily, backing away and sitting down at the table, Rude following her example once she was seated. "What have you been up to?"

"I've gone into security." He said, signalling to the barman they would have some drinks he had obviously pre-ordered.

"Wow," Tifa smiled, putting her handbag under her chair, "Some big company I expect?"

"Shinra companies." Rude replied, "It's alright, they pay us well for the job, but there's all these medical examinations you have to go through every month, which is a drag."

"Really?"

"Mm... One of the guys, we got on okay I suppose, he was a bit of a slob really but he was fun. Anyway he didn't appreciated being stripped down every five minutes by a strange man who then shoved a bunch of needles into his skin, stole his blood and prodded him in the ribs till he was so bruised he could hardly walk. Or that was what he said, but he left in the end, went into some underground organisation or other." He paused in thought for a moment, then leaning forward on the table he asked, "What about you? I heard you got into the police force like you wanted?"

"Yes, I did, although to be honest it wasn't all it was cracked up to be..."

"Wasn't? Did you leave it or something?"

"No, it wasn't that great when I started out a few years back, but it's gotten better over the last couple of months."

"Ah, yes, I heard a young woman was put in charge of some big case and I did wonder if it was you..."

She giggled, taking a sip from her drink as it was put down by the barman. "Seems I'm making a name for myself."

He frowned as he took a drink from his own glass, "I also heard that very same woman got herself shot in the head?"

"It wasn't my fault," She professed, "I had to get away from one bloke and ran into the firing line of the other guys."

"Other guys?" He asked, sounding vaguely worried, setting down his glass in a gesture that told her he was more than ready to listen.

"Oh don't worry," Tifa flapped a hand dismissively at his question, "We've got the ones who shot me, the only one left out there is the one I shot in the knee."

This answer didn't seem to reassure Rude at all, if anything it only made him more concerned. He let out a sigh and mumbled something under his breath, something Tifa failed to catch. "What was that?"

"Doesn't matter," He said, taking a sip from his drink, the deep frown still fixed quite solidly on his face. Tifa raised an eyebrow, but let it slide, knowing Rude he'd feel bad about not saying and tell her later anyway. He was always like that. Always the gentleman. Unlike _somebody_ she knew.

"I'm not on that case anymore though." She sighed.

"Oh," She was sure Rude's frown could not have gotten any more pronounced, but somehow it did, "Why not?"

"Because I got myself shot in the head?" She forced out a laugh, trying to lighten the mood if only a little. "I'll be back on the case when they think I'm 'healthy' enough for it. Which is good. I'm bored rigid with nothing but paper work now, it's starting to feel like I'm more of a secretary than a police officer."

Thankfully he chuckled at the last statement, his forehead smoothing out again and he brought his drink to his lips, the rim of it clinking against his sunglasses. Tifa cocked her head on the side inquisitively and asked "Why don't you ever take those glasses off?"

A faint blush appeared on his cheeks under the lenses and he cleared his throat, putting his drink purposefully back on it's mat. "Erm... The sunlight, it hurts... my eyes..."

"But it's dark in here already, there's hardly any sunlight coming through the blinds."

The blush was growing more apparent by the second and Tifa found herself leaning forwards, she really wanted to know why he was so adamant not to take off his glasses, and why was the reason making him blush so profusely?

"I erm..." He cleared his throat again and she could see him flexing his jaw thoughtfully, "Sort of... Shaved my..."

She gasped, clasping a hand over her mouth to try and hide the smile that had appeared immediately and to muffle the laugh that still managed to escaped her lips. "You shaved your eyebrows off?!" She asked, trying and failing to hide her amusement, "Is that why you're not taking them off?"

It his tiny nod, she couldn't help herself and burst into a fit of giggling, giving him an apologetic look even as she laughed at his lack of eyebrows. Deciding he'd had enough of that, Rude finished his drink and signalled for the bill. "Do you want to get something to eat?" He asked as Tifa took one last sip of her drink, still smiling about his sorry situation.

"Yes, alright I suppose. What were you thinking of?"

"I was thinking you would like to choose. Fish and chips maybe?"

She pulled a face, remembering the Fish and Chips Cloud had bought for her that she hadn't eaten in the end and decided she just couldn't eat it from Rude if she neglected to eat it from Cloud. "Something else maybe..."

"Ok, is there something wrong with Fish and Chips?"

"No," She answered, picking up her handbag and leaving a small tip on the table, "I just don't feel like eating something that heavy right now."

"Oh, alright, how about we walk about and see what we can find?"

She smiled, "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

Ducking past the dart board, they made their way outside and began walking down the street. Nothing they passed seemed right for lunch, and most places seemed full anyway. The day was becoming a really nice hot one, and Tifa was already regretting bringing a jacket, but when she'd left in the morning, the sky had been overcast and grey. She was walking around holding it now and although it was better than wearing it, it was still a bit of a bother.

They were walking down a small side road when Rude's phone rang. Excusing himself, he walked a little way off and answered it. While he was talking, a poster on a board caught Tifa's attention and she walked over to read it. It was about a missing man; he had long black hair he held back with a bandana, looked about 30, had a non-too-cheerful disposition and had been reported missing 6 days ago.

She was crouched down reading this poster when a rasping sound came into her awareness. She looked around, but Rude was still talking on his phone and besides the sound wasn't coming from his direction anyway. It was coming from the alley-way behind the board she was reading off. She stood up and looked into the gloom. Straight into a pair of blood-shot eyes that were blazing at her from the darkness. She could just make out the silhouette of someone with longish shaggy hair and the faint light in the alley was glinting off teeth that glistened – red?

Her eyes widened in shock and she froze, not sure of what to do. Was this person drunk, had a rough night and had fallen over and smashed his teeth in? Or was this first hand evidence of the attacks going on all over the city standing right in front of her? Even as she made the motion of ejecting that possibility from her mind, the rasping stopped and a horrible screech replaced it as the person lurched out of the alley and wrapped itself around her.

She screamed and hit out, catching it in the neck and fell backwards as she hurried to get away from it. Strong hands caught her and pulled her into the shadow of the alley, it's hand across her mouth to muffle her screams.

Kicking and struggling, she was half- carried half-dragged into the alleyway. The person holding her was obviously a man, of immense size, and was incredibly strong. He was rasping in her ear, the foul smell of rotting flesh sweeping over her, making her stomach lurch and she screwed her eyes shut and held her breath, even as she bit down hard on his fingers.

He let her go with a grunt and she fell to the floor in a heap, scrambling away from her captor, heading for the light with desperate speed. She flew from the alley like a bullet form a gun, racing right past Rude, who was staring open mouthed at her receding back. She didn't look back or stop running until she was sure she wasn't going to be followed, and that was a _long_ way away.

There was a horrible taste in her mouth, like dirty metal, and she spat out a ruddy-brown sludge that looked horribly like congealed blood. She paid no attention to the appalled looks on the faces of passers-by, spitting and spluttering and scrubbing her mouth with the back of her hand, constantly looking around her for any signs of 'it'. Thankfully there were none, and there was no sign of Rude either. She felt bad about fleeing without him, mainly because she would never forgive herself if anything happened to him, but also because unless he was attacked himself, he wouldn't understand why she ran.

She didn't really know what she was meant to do, all her thoughts were focused on the man with the rasping breath and the glistening red teeth. And that horrible, blood curdling painful screech, tearing it's way from his throat. The filth and blood she knew was coating his hands and face didn't make it any easier to accept that she had escaped basically unscathed. It was only evidence that other people had not been so lucky. They'd had a lot of reports of people being bitten and even killed by savages under the same description as the man who'd attacked her. There had also been cases of a lot of people being reported missing.

Thinking of this reminded her of the poster she'd been inspecting before she was attacked. It had been about a man called 'Vincent Valentine' hadn't it? It was almost inconceivable that these two cases could be connected, but she had just nearly been abducted herself hadn't she? So why not? Why couldn't the missing people and the attacks be connected? Why couldn't this be a huge web of events all being set up, staged even, going on in the underground world run by people like Canary and 'The one-winged Angel'?

Her path was set, she knew what she was going to do now, what she wanted to know, and she knew exactly where to find it. Digging in her pocket she took out her mobile and speed dialled Aerith's number, turning and walking down the road as it rang.

"Hey Tifa!" Aerith said cheerily over the phone. "What can I do for you?"

"Aerith," Tifa said, her walk turning into a trot, "I need you to meet me at the police headquarters now. Can you get there?"

"Yeah I can..." Aerith sounded confused, "What have you-?"

"I think I'm on to something big here and I need you to go over the files for the Vampire Case."

"But you're not on that case anymore Tifa," Aerith was going into her patronizing mode, "If you're on to something then you should tell some-"

"I can't tell anyone else!" Tifa snapped, the trot turning into a run in her urgency, "This is fucking important Aerith, don't give me any shit about handing it over 'because I'm injured'. I'm the only one who can run this fucking case and I'm _not_ handing it over! Now just get to the office or so help me I will drag you there myself!"

Then she hung up, satisfied that Aerith would do what she asked for a little while, and not feeling the least bit guilty about swearing at her to get it.

When Tifa burst through the doors of the headquarters, she was breathing heavily and her face was set in a grim expression. Aerith ran up the steps behind her as she walked along the corridor towards the files room. "Tifa!" She called, Tifa paused long enough for the girl to catch up but then she was off again at almost double the pace. "What's this about?" Aerith panted beside her.

"I need to do some cross referencing. I think this is bigger than we originally thought." She said, glancing at the red faced Aerith from the corner of her eye. They reached the door and Aerith fished about in her handbag for the keys, stuffing them into the lock and barely managing to turn them before Tifa was charging through, slamming a hand onto the light switch as she passed. Aerith shut the door, then joined her in searching through the racks upon racks of files to find the relevant ones.

"I've got the one for the Vampire Case!" Aerith called, hurrying to the single table at the end of the room where Tifa was already getting out pen and paper and had a file of her own on the desk. "What do you need these for anyway?"

"Just do as I say please Aerith." Tifa said, sounding more like a command than a request. "Can you find me any files on attacks involving people with blood-shot eyes?"

Aerith frowned, but disappeared down the aisle to find the file. They worked in tandem, Tifa asking for files and searching through them, pulling out specific bits of paper and pinning them on a cork board on the wall behind the desk, Aerith rushing around, pulling out files when requested, and even once a map.

"What are all these for?" Aerith asked. The cork board was now sporting the map and all different colour pins and numbers and letters and such, with wanted posters all stuck round the edge and the desk was sorted similarly, with bits of paper in pairs, pinned together by different colours, numbers and letters, sorted into what appeared to be time order.

"Look at this here," Tifa said, reaching forward and pulling out the first pinned pair of pages. "This is the first attack that happened right? And look where it is."

The location of the attack was marked on the map with a blue '1' pin "Hence the pin."

"Yes," Tifa said, putting the papers down and picking up the next lot, "Now look at where this is."

These papers were pinned with a blue '2' pin and on the map, around two streets from the first pin, the other blue '2' pin was stuck. They went through, looking at the patterns of the attacks, marked by the pins on the map and Aerith's hand made it's way up to settle over her mouth as realisation struck her.

"Tifa," she whispered from behind her hand, "These are all linked. The attacks are in lines!"

"I know." Tifa said, taking a step back and admiring her work. "But the funny thing is, look at the missing posters. They're all the same distance and time apart. These people are being systematically removed from the streets."

Aerith's eyes widened and she nodded, "How did you work this out?"

"I don't know. I just found a poster today and as I was reading it, this man came out of the alleyway in front of me and attacked me!" She stopped at Aerith's squeak of fear and nodded, "I screamed and hit out but then I fell over and he dragged me into the alleyway. He had a hand over my mouth so I couldn't make any more noise and he was rasping all over my neck. He smelt like rotting flesh Aerith..." She shuddered, "I think this drug we have here is turning people cannibalistic..."

"Did he bite you?" Aerith asked in a small voice, her bright green eyes scanning every bit of Tifa she could see. Tifa shook her head, turning her gaze back to the pins and missing posters on the wall.

"I think I know who's doing this. All of this." She sighed, taking a step forward and touching the map over her apartment, "I think all of this is connected."

"All of it?"

"The missing people, the attacks, the drug, the rise in crime, that robbery I was shot in, all of it's connected somehow. I _know_ it is, but I've no idea what else to do."

"Hey," Aerith put a hand on Tifa's shoulder, giving her a shaky but reassuring smile, "You've done loads for this already. This way we can catch the mad people and keep them all locked away until we find out what's wrong with them. This way no one else will be hurt."

Tifa nodded, "I guess. We can predict their next movements can't we..."

Aerith nodded, her smile becoming more solid as she said, "Come on, we'll lock this up so no one can get in and see it, and then we'll take you to the nurse and get you checked out."

Nodding, Tifa let herself be lead out of the room and waited while Aerith locked the door. It almost came as a surprise to see that it was now dark outside, but it had been around 1:30pm when she had rushed in with her head full of a plan, and they'd been at this for almost 9 hours, it was little wonder the sun had gone down.

The nurse's office was all the way on the other side of the building and in the time it took them to walk over there, Tifa's head was swimming again. Thought's of Rude and feeling guilty for leaving him behind were contending for priority over the doubts that Cloud would do something like systematically kidnap a whole load of people and instigate some sort of mastermind plan to rule the backwaters of the city like an underground king. As much as she hated to think that he might, she couldn't rule out the possibility that he could as he was certainly very capable of it.

* * *

_**A/N:**_ The Plot Thickens!!! MUHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!!! What do you think? Actually... it doesn't matter what you think xD I've already written all the way up to chapter 17 so yeah... You'll have to give your opinions on what should happen after that xD Eve though I already have the ending planned out from here, I can bend it a little I guess xD

Pre-Warning: Chapter 17 is a slight lemon ;)

Please keep reading :)


	10. Twice shy

Pt 15

Darkness reached the length of the room as there were no windows and no lights to brighten it. The air was hot and dry like a desert, heavy with the smell of petrol and chemicals so thick it was like walking through a wave of something solid, although the thickness was only gas. There was a single metal door at one end of the room and an empty cage at the other. The room was eerily quiet, the only sound was the scratching coming from the corner at the end of the room.

A fully grown man, with long black hair and dull red eyes, was laying on his belly on the floor, his short fingernails scratching half-heartedly at the wall. He had long since given up the hope of escaping and the gas in his lungs had slowed his movements like a poison until he could muster no further strength other than that required to scratch his finger back and forth across the metal wall.

He had been ordered to strip down and change into a white cotton jumpsuit before he was lead to the room and left there in the gloom. The smiling blonde who had lead him there – Canary or something like it – had explained it was to check anything his body might give off in the room, and so far, he'd lost track of how many hours he'd been in this room, no one had come to check on him.

The darkness of the place had been such a shock that at first he'd taken no notice of the strange smell that hung in the air, it was _so_ dark he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. It was in edging further and further into the room, which seemed immeasurably long, that he'd come across the cage, running his shaking hands over it's frame, trying the door and bars until he worked out what it was. He snatched his hand back in fear that something may be in it and may bite his arm off if he got too close, but by the sound of it the cage was empty and he was the only one in the room.

The repulsive smell hadn't taken long to catch up to him, holding his nose didn't help him much, the smell was so thick he could taste it on the air and after struggling to keep the contents of his stomach, he decided it would be best to simply breathe through his nose.

Whatever the gas was, it was affecting his memory and he had having a hard time maintaining straight patterns of thought, finding his mind kept drifting off into something irrelevant. It had taken him several attempts to remember his name was Vincent, and he still hadn't gotten round to the second part.

He sighed, giving the wall an extra hard scratch, and turned his head to look blindly in the direction of the cage. For some reason his memory of his immediate surroundings weren't affected at all and if he had the strength, he was sure he could take himself round the room quite happily, reaching both the door and the cage, tracing all the hinges and locks perfectly, even in the pitch black.

He was really tired, the gas making him feel drowsy, and the inclination to sleep was nearly overpowering. But if he fell asleep out here, he might never wake up again and he still needed to remember his name.

A feeling of melancholy swept over him and he sighed again. He didn't like this place. It was making him feel stupid and tired and weak and a whole multitude of other things he couldn't quite remember. He turned on his belly, clawing his way to the cage and dragged himself inside, curling up inside. If he was going to feel unhappy, the limited space of the cage might offer some small comfort to his rapidly deteriorating mood.

"Cloud, he's in the cage."

Cloud nodded, looking up from his work to give Zack a satisfied sigh, "Good, lock it."

Zack did as he was asked, pushing the button on the panel in front of him to lock the cage door, the pressure gage signally something was inside it. It had taken them months to secure this little bit of kit, and it was a huge help in their work. Before it, they'd had to go in to the room and check themselves if the candidate was in the cage or not. There had been many broken bones because of it and the arrival of the pressure sensor was a blessing to their suffering bodies.

Cloud stood from his chair, stretching his arms above his head and yawning. "That's the longest one isn't it?"

"Since either you or me, yeah." Zack said walking to the door and opening it, letting in light from the hallway into the marginally darker room they'd spent the last 9 hours sitting in. "Can take a hell of a lot, that guy."

"Yeah," Cloud agreed, walking out into the light and squinting, "It'd be great if he's a compliant wouldn't it."

"I only hope he can hold his drink as well as he can his poison." Zack sniggered, leading the way down the hall to the metal door.

"You'd enjoy another drinking buddy wouldn't you." Cloud said, pushing the button for the lights inside the room and waiting while the airlock did it's thing. "He'd make a good compliment to your over-cheerfulness. You can balance each other out."

"He's not that bad," Zack said as they stepped into the airlock and the door shut tight behind them with a _psshh_ sound, "He's not any worse than you used to be before that cop came along."

Cloud split him a grin, then wrinkled his nose as the chamber filled with the thick gas they kept in the room. It was a green-blue substance very closely resembling fog. At first glance it would have seemed to be luminous, but anyone who had been near enough the stuff without the lights would have known better.

Now the lights were on, the room took on a bluish appearance, with shiny silver steel walls and a griddled floor. However, it was clear that the place had been burnt out before, the floor was black with soot and it was possibly the only way of ridding the room of the dark brown stains that tarnished the otherwise clean walls with handprints and large sweeps.

The floor of the cage was the worst when it came to stains. It was obviously the main spot in the room, that every candidate or being ended up in. The same was true of the most recent of the room's visitors, who was curled up like a wolf in the cage.

Walking over, Cloud could see that he was very deeply sleeping, the long pale face was smooth and relaxed. He crouched down outside the cage and looked through the bars as Zack said, "Looks like he's a good one."

"Yeah," Cloud murmured, moving round the cage, inspecting the sleeping figure carefully, "Hardly anything on the cotton, nothing brown or black apart from the soot. He looks to have accepted it alright. Now we'll have to wake him up if we're going to do any further inspections."

Zack nodded, ticking boxes on a clip-board in his hand. "Do you want me to, or are you?"

In answer, Cloud gave the cage a good kick, the resulting _clang_ echoing round the room and opening a pair of dull red eyes from the person in the cage. Craning his neck down to the man's level, he said, "His eyes are clean. A bit dull from the drug, but other than that they're fine, not blood-shot at all." He addressed the man, "Can you hear me?"

He nodded. "Good," Cloud said, "Tell me your name." He shook his head, a shaking hand coming up to paw at his mouth.

"You can't speak?" Cloud offered. The man shook his head again, repeated the gesture, then pulled a face.

"His brain hasn't been affected at all, he knows he'll probably throw up" Cloud said over his shoulder to Zack, who scribbled it down, "His ears aren't faulting either. Can you move all your limbs for me? Right, neither are his limbs, all four are working fine."

He stood up and took a look at the clip-board. "Anything I missed?" He asked.

"Blood."

"Oh yeah..." He crouched down again and stuffed his wrist through the bars, balling his hand into a fist to save any of his fingers being bitten off. The man looked from him, to the wrist and back again, clearly thinking of a way to convey refusal. He reached out and touched Cloud's arm, then shook his head, attempting to push the arm weakly back out of the cage.

"Seems good to me." Zack said cheerily, fishing a set of keys from his pocket and slotting one into the lock on the door. He pulled it open and reached inside, grabbing the man's arm and heaving him out and upright, straightening his clothing and ignoring the way the man swayed alarmingly. "Come on," Zack said, pulling him in the direction of the air lock, "It's much nicer with fresh air."

Cloud rolled his eyes at the hopeful expression on the man's face and, picking up the keys, followed them to the door.

Once outside, the man, who could now announce around the coughing that his name was 'Vincent Valentine', was reduced to a wheezing spluttering heap, slumped onto Zack as the clean air filled his lungs. The two friends had to sympathise with him, it was never a nice experience, entering or leaving the room and switching gas intakes, but after he'd done it a few times, he'd get used to it as they had.

They led him to a room with a shower and his clothes freshly laundered. Vincent seemed grateful enough, even a small appreciative smile flickering across his face at the sight of the shower, and they'd left him to wash in peace. It was safe enough now for him to be left alone, he'd shown none of the signs of VAMP syndrome.

VAMP (Viscous Anti-Mako Permeation) syndrome was what caused the rejecters of the drug to expel the viscous brown sludge that permeated through their skin and onto the things around them. It also caused a thick sticky liquid to weep from their eyes, making them red and blood-shot. The need for blood was to replace what they had lost in the substance being excreted from every pore and orifice. The whole disease was called collectively 'Jenova', and was currently the spark of much excitement in the city's dark underbelly.

"Do you think we'll be able to sleep well tonight?" Zack yawned, "After all, we have been sitting in the same room for the better part of twelve hours."

"Not sure," Cloud said smirking, "Probably not as well as I slept last night."

"Oh really? What happened?"

"Spend the night in someone else's bed didn't I."

"You sneaky little bugger!" Zack said in an awed and hushed voice, "You managed to get into her bed?"

"Don't get me wrong, I didn't do anything to her."

"Well what _did_ you do then?"

"Well I was too ill to do anything wasn't I. Made myself ill and couldn't leave her bed, so I had to stay the night."

"Oh you _had_ to stay the night did you?"

"Yep."

"Must have a real chore."

Cloud smirked at Zack's sarcastic tone and huge grin, "Come on then, spill the beans. What happened to make you so happy about it?" He coaxed.

"Well she was asleep and started talking. And I thought that maybe if I talked to her, she'd talk back, and I could get a few answers. She'd got a phone call from some guy and-"

"Oh that's not good."

"I know that's what I thought. Anyway she agreed to meet up with this guy today and-"

"Really not good, got to step up your game a bit Cloud..."

"I know, and she wouldn't tell me anything about it so I thought I could ask her in her sleep. So I started asking her what she was gonna do with him and didn't get a good answer so-"

"What are we defining as a 'not good' answer here?"

"She was going to eat him apparently."

"Oh right, carry on."

"Thanks. But yeah, so I asked her if she liked him, she said of course and I asked her if she liked me and in her dream I must have been some guy called Cid because she called me Ciddy-sloth and said she loved me-"

"Ciddy-sloth! Oh my Gods that's a funny one! I wonder if she calls him that to his face! Haha that's a good thing to find out! You could hold it against him for luring in your girl."

"She's not my girl alright! But I asked her what she thought of Cloud Strife and she started saying how she liked me because I'm soft when I'm trying to be a jerk and she thinks I'm good looking and I smell good-"

"You sure you're not exaggerating this a bit Cloud?"

"I'm not exaggerating Zack. You wanted to know what happened. I'm telling you. Anyway, I asked her if she loved Cloud and she sounded really sad and said she wasn't allowed to love me because I'm the bad guy and she's the good girl and good girls don't love bad boys."

"She's right though Cloud. Strictly speaking, she shouldn't love you because you're too different. You're on different sides of the playing field and falling in love with the enemy would lose her her job and probably get her stuck in jail for obscuring the course of justice."

"Ok. I know. That's why I told her it's not wrong to fall in love, but the good girls just shouldn't _date_ the bad boys. Or at least just not get caught. Anyone can fall in love at any time with anybody else. That's what I said, along with the fact that Cloud hopes he's the one she falls in love with. And then-"

"Don't you think that's-"

"_And then!_"

"Sorry..."

"And then she rolled over and kissed me on the shoulder and said thank you _Cloud_! As if she knew it was me the whole time! _She knew_ Zack and that's the first time she's kissed me for herself. Before I've never really given her a choice, not that she's complained, but she kissed me. _She_ kissed _me_!"

"Wow..."

"I know!"

"You're really hung up on this chick aren't you?"

"...?"

"You just said the same things over and over again but with varying emphasis."

"So?"

"So you only had to say it once and I would have understood the first time. You didn't need to say it again."

"You've just never been in love have you Zack."

"I told you didn't I? I can't be bothered with love. Unless there's some incredibly gorgeous girl who's going to sweep me off my feet? It's just not going to happen. I don't care enough about that whole settling down thing."

Cloud give him a thoughtful look and said, "I think I know just the girl you're looking for."

Zack raised his eyebrow and said "I'm not looking for any girl."

"I think you are," Cloud replied, prodding him lightly in the chest as he gave his evidence "Why else would you chase after every girl that walks down the street? You have to be looking for something, you've had enough one night stands to put the common man to shame."

Zack rolled his eyes as Vincent emerged from his room, dressed in his usual attire of black leather, the red bandana tied round his head keeping his hair back from his face. "Well, what else are we but common men?"

* * *

_**A/N:**_ I'm aware this might not be very easy to understand, but it will all be explained in a later chapter :D I was kind of saving all my best lines till the last chance lol xD But I'm sure you can still tell, this is a very VERY VEEERRRYYYY(!!!!) Important chapter as it has a lot of information in it :)

Reviewy??? :D


	11. Loves suffers

Pt 16

**Front page news!**

**Midgar police officer, Lieutenant Tifa Lockheart, was recently given charge of the ongoing case of the cannibalistic attacks. Some people are unhappy with the young woman's hold on power and comments have been made on her recent visit to the hospital. The Chief Inspector, Cid Highwind, has dismissed these comments as "unprecedented and sexist remarks."**

**The lieutenant has already made several arrests, and a large portion of the city had been quartered off. This is bad news for commuters and residents who have been asked to leave their homes, but police say it is for their safety and urge the public not to enter the restricted areas. Reports are, that remaining suspect attackers are hiding in those areas and the police are working hard to find them.**

**Lieutenant Lockheart has refused to make a statement, but a spokesperson for the police has said they are working as quickly as they can to find and arrest the suspects, although the identity and whereabouts of the person in charge of the attacks is still unknown.**

Cloud frowned at the article. He wasn't even going to buy the paper, but the headline "**Top Cop Get's Down To The Bed Rock!**" caught his eye. There was no point in pretending he wasn't surprised by the news, because he was. Not by the fact that Tifa was back on his case, because that was obvious, but more by the fact that she seemed to be figuring him out. If she'd really worked it out, they would be in trouble. Even more so if she found out where they were working.

Chucking the paper back on the pile, ignoring the complaints of the stall owner, he jogged off down the street, pausing to swear at the blockade across his path and turning to run along beside it. The paper was right; the closed sections were going to become a problem. Especially as his base was right on the other side of this particular patch.

He paused for breath outside a cafe and as he was standing there, clutching at a stitch in his side, he had an idea. He'd been expecting Tifa to be put back on the case for some time, he'd even dreamt about it before; in his dark, twisted mind the image of Tifa hand-cuffing him to the bed and threatening him with a knife happened all too often, under the excuse that it was her job. Although the possibility of her actually arresting him – or making love to him – was relatively slim, it wasn't unreasonable, as was the possibility that this may be one of his more real dreams.

He fished in his pocket for his phone and unlocked it, flicking past the moonlight picture of her into his phonebook and dialling out her number. She picked it up on the third ring. "Hello, this is Tifa Lockheart, how may I help you?"

"Tifa," He said, trying to steady his breathing, "It's Cloud."

"Oh." She didn't sound all that pleased to hear from him. "I thought you might have given up."

"Given up, never."

"It's been two weeks since the last time I spoke to you. To be honest I was sort of enjoying the respite."

He frowned, resisting the urge to stick his bottom lip out, that wasn't what he'd wanted to hear at all. "Yeah well, I wanted to talk to you because of what I just read in the paper."

"Yeah?"

"It says you're back in charge of the case... Are you?"

"...Yeah..."

"Oh..."

He stopped. Well what had he really expected? That she would deny it? That the paper had lied or it was a different Tifa Lockheart? "This means I can't be with you anymore doesn't it..."

"Sorry Cloud..." She sounded guilty and he felt bad for her. It wasn't her fault they were on different sides of the story, if anything it was Cloud's fault for not getting himself an honest job – besides the delivery service.

"Nah, it's not that bad... I was fine before I met you..." He wasn't even reassured by his owns words so he was pretty sure she wouldn't be, but it was worth saying them. "This means you can arrest me again doesn't it."

"It does, yes..."

"Will you?" He asked hesitantly, hardly daring to hope that she wouldn't, he didn't want to be disappointed.

There was a long pause from her end of the line and then she mumbled "I'm sorry Cloud... I have to go... Bye."

And then she was gone, and he was left holding the phone to his ear, listening to the hang up tune, feeling sick to his stomach.

"What's wrong with him?" Reno asked, sidling over to the bar with a beer in his hand, where Zack was standing with Cloud, who had taken up his now quite regular position, slumped over the bar with a bottle of Vodka clutched in one limp hand, a cigarette hanging from the other.

"He's depressed." Zack whispered, taking a sip from his own beer and giving Cloud's body a sympathetic look. "His cop got put back on the case and now he can't go near her or risk getting arrested."

"Oh sure, rub it in." A voice mumbled from where Cloud's head was squashed against the bar.

Reno gave Zack a look and a shrug and whispered, "I never really bother with love. Too much of a hassle really."

Zack nodded, and the pair took drinks from their glasses, pausing to watch the hand holding Cloud's cigarette came up to his face, and a puff of smoke appeared a few seconds after. The hand fell away to be replaced with the Vodka bottle and the sound of the spirit sloshing against the sides. The pair exchanged glances, and Reno decided it was time to step in.

"Yo Canary."

"What?"

"What're we gonna do about that Valentine guy?"

"How d'you mean?"

"Well look at him."

Cloud's head shifted so his eyes could look over at the figure sitting in the corner, scarf pulled right up so his chin and nose was buried in it. Once dull, now bright blazingly red eyes swept the room, coming to rest momentarily on Cloud, before moving off again.

"He's been sitting like that for the past two hours." Reno went on, "About the same amount of time you've been over here smoking and drinking your troubles away."

"So, what's the matter with him sitting there?"

"Nothing really but it just creeps me out you know, having him over there hawk-eyeing us all. What did you do to him?"

"Gassed him." Zack cut in, saving Cloud the effort of explaining and letting the poor man return to his wallowing in self pity. "Took him off the market. Seemed pretty happy to comply really."

"You gassed him?" Reno sounded appalled. "And you think he's safe enough to be left with us lot out here?"

"You were gassed too Turk." Zack pointed out. "We all were. He had no reactions to the gas like the others did. He's the same as you or me."

"I'd say he's more like Canary at the minute actually..." Reno mumbled, taking a drink from his glass. "Maybe we should drag him over here so they can keep each other company..."

"It would be better than your company Turk." Cloud murmured, heaving himself up from the bar and staggering away in Vincent's direction. The pair left behind had nothing else to do but follow, Zack placing a hand under Cloud's elbow to keep him on the right path; he wasn't that drunk, his speech wasn't even slurred yet, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Vincent looked up when they got to him, shifting over on his bench so they could sit down. Cloud threw himself down on the seat, spilling a bit of Vodka on the trip down, looking at the small splash on the floor with an unimpressed look, as though it was it's fault.

"Yo Valentine." Reno said, parking himself on Vincent's other side and sticking out the hand that wasn't holding his beer, "I'm Reno, but everyone round here calls me Turk."

"Actually, most people round here just call him piss annoying." Cloud interjected, earning a disgruntled look from Reno and a chuckle from Zack.

"Oh dear Cloud," Zack laughed, "Looks like you might have rained on his parade then."

Cloud shrugged, lifting the cigarette to his lips and leaving it there, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a packet, offering one to Vincent, which he gladly took, and then to Reno and Zack. Zack declined, but produced a lighter and passed it around.

"I didn't think you'd be the type to smoke," Zack said to Vincent as he retrieved his lighter from the man.

Vincent nodded, taking a long drag and blowing the smoke out in a thin column. "Anyone who's had the kind of life I have, will have been a smoker at some point along the line."

"Been a tough one then has it?" Cloud asked, slipping down in his seat a bit.

Vincent nodded, "No job, no proper home, no family so to speak, the love of my life is dead and my child along with her. I've been tossed around from pillar to post all my life and the only thing I seem to have got out of it was a lung-full of foul tasting gas and a handful of sludge."

"Wow..." Reno breathed shaking his head. "That's bad man. I can't imagine losing both my wife and child..."

"That's because you don't have them." Cloud said sulkily. When Vincent gave him a curious look, Zack offered to fill in the blanks.

"He's in a sour mood because he's fallen for the cop who's in charge of our case and he's spent the last three weeks following her around like some love-sick puppy because she wasn't doing anything but desk work. Now she's back on the case she'll arrest him if he goes near her so he's taken to drowning his sorrows in cigarettes, other people's problems and booze."

"Oh..." Vincent mused, "Tifa Lockheart?"

"You know her?!" Cloud suddenly sprang to attention, his eyes wide and his expression half-way between shocked and jealous.

"Yeah," Vincent said, Cloud's sudden soberness not going unnoticed. "I met her once a few years ago; she was a nice girl then too. Only a regular policewoman then. I doubt she'd remember me."

"What did you used to do?"

"I was part of security personal for Shinra Co. But I left after all that trouble with the experiments."

"Hey," Reno said excitedly, "Did you know some guy called Rude?"

"I'm not sure."

"Rude?!" Every head turned to look at Cloud as the angry yelp escaped him. He slammed the bottle down on the table and turned to give Reno his full attention. "What's he like?"

"Pardon?" Reno asked, hardly believing that Cloud would strike up a sudden interest in someone after only hearing their name.

"I asked you to tell me what he's like. Now spill it!"

"Ok ok," Reno backed away on his perch, his hands raised in a sign of peace. Vincent and Zack exchanged glances at their sudden insignificance and settled back to listen; if they were honest, they were quite interested too. "He's kind of tall, bald, always wears sunglasses because of some problem with his eyebrows... Erm... He's not dumb but he's not a genius. I dunno, whada'ya wanna know?"

"Everything," Cloud edged closer on the sofa, leaning over Vincent, "I wanna know where he lives, how old he is. I wanna know what his personality is like. I want to know everything about him you have to give me."

Reno pulled a face and said, "Alright, if you want to know that much, why don't you just ask him yourself?" Cloud mumbled something under his breath that sounded a bit like 'shy and too young to die'. Sighing, Reno said, "He's a nice guy once you get to know him. Tends to keep to himself at first you know, really serious type. He doesn't smoke, hardly ever drinks, he can cook, clean and he did all his own plumbing in his apartment apparently. He's always the gentlemanly type and insists on paying the bill no matter who he's with. I only really got involved with him because our offices were next to each other and I needed someone to pester. Oh and his favourite thing to do on the weekends is work on this project he's got going under a big white sheet in his living room."

Cloud groaned and Zack muttered, "Looks like you're in for a tough ride then mate..."

* * *

_**A/N:**_ This was a bit of a filler, but it leads up to finding out a whole load of shit in Shinra (as is only expected xD) and it also leads up to finding out about Vinnie's past :)

Hope you enjoyed :D


	12. Final Fantasy

Part 17

The door swung in silently, and from the shadows beyond it's gaping mouth stepped a figure dressed in black. She could not see their face in the shadow of the hood, but she could feel the wolfish grin as he stepped through the door. A feeling of nostalgia came over her and there was a pain in her chest, as though her ribs where shrinking around her lungs and heart, constricting them.

He stepped closer into her room and the bands on her heart got tighter and there was no oxygen to her brain and the world felt as though it was slipping away from beneath her until his voice, as deep and as confident as ever came into the unbearable silence. "Breathe Teef, breathe."

She did as he told and suddenly the world was returning, colouring in a rush of air and light and clarity. She ran to him, her arms finding their way around his outstretched ones to wrap around his body and her face burying into the soft black cotton on his chest. She began to shake and she was relieved that he was there, that she had something to hold onto as his arms wound around her to keep her in his warm cocoon. His breath rippled across her in a wave of cinnamon and sugar, "I love you."

"I love you too." No thought went into the words before they left her mouth. She hardly felt the need to think, she felt too comfortable in his presence and she would give anything to him to be in this moment. She tried to hang on as he pulled from the hug, but her limbs would not do what she wanted, they would only do what was right; to let him go.

"You upset me." He said and she could still feel his smile, though its fakery was shown through his words.

"I know..." She said, guilt piling inside her, and she felt his smile waver.

"I want you to love me." He said, a white hand coming up under her chin to tilt her head. She could see a pair of eyes, blue and electric and startlingly beautiful and they looked back at her with a sincerity that made her want to flinch.

"I don't want you to love me..." She whispered, more to herself than to him, because she couldn't return his sincerity.

"Then why do you love me in return?" He sounded puzzled, but she could still feel his smile and it seared at her soul.

"I'm not sure. I just do..." Now she was puzzled and she hadn't been before he confused her. "You're confusing me."

He laughed; she could see the glint off his teeth and the clear wolf-smile. "I'm confusing myself."

She couldn't stop a smile appearing on her face at his comment and then she was laughing too and it was so easy to laugh in his presence. The back of her mind was teeming with misery and stress at the case that seemed so unreal in this obstructed version of reality, but this came so naturally to her now.

"I'll help you with your case." He said, as if he was reading her thoughts, "You only have to make up your side of the deal."

"We had a deal?"

"You knew my name, so you could scream it to me later."

"Cloud..." She whispered, realisation dawning on her. She reached forward, her fingertips pushing back the hood to reveal soft blonde spikes and those beloved blue eyes, dark with lust.

"Tifa..." She felt her heart constrict again and burst as the hand beneath her chin was joined by an arm around her waist, pulling her in for his kiss. Her fingers tightened in the rim of his hood on his shoulders. It felt so right to be like this with him, even though she knew it was forbidden; only made it more of a thrill.

He broke the kiss, but kept close, his deep blue eyes searching hers as he said, "One night with you, one night hearing you say my name over and over so many times it hardly seems real, one night and I'll turn myself in. I promise."

For a moment she forgot herself, standing on her tip-toes and pressing her lips to his. Just as he moved to deepen their entanglement, she stopped. "I know. But I don't want you to turn yourself in..."

"What? Why?" He frowned. She shook her head, her fingers curling tighter into his shoulders. He tilted her chin again to look into her eyes, his own seeming dark and troubled by something grain deep and incurable. "Tifa?"

"You're not the only one Cloud..." Admitting this was like pushing a pin through her own morals. It was like going against her creed and she wondered; at what point had she fallen for, or trusted him enough, to abandon herself for him?

"I don't understand. I've done you wrong. I hurt you. I deserve a lifetime of solitude for the things I've done."

"No Cloud." She shook her head, tears appearing in her eyes. Why did he just not understand? Why had he become so set in morals that he had no idea about what was really wrong and right? "You're not the only person around me. There are others and I can't..."

"You can't? Tifa, is this Rude?"

"I can't let you take the blame for everything... You're not the only man who ever hurt me. And I don't want to hurt Rude."

"But..."

"I know he loves me. And I don't want to hurt him at all... Ever..."

Cloud sighed, his cinnamon breath ghosting over her in a cold wave as he questioned, his voice barely above a defeated whisper "So you love him back..."

She didn't know. She'd been friends with Rude for a long time, ever since she first moved to the city. It had been a few years since she last spoke to him. She hadn't know how to react when he'd confessed to her his love, and his sudden forward insistence had frightened her and she'd run away, not wanting to stay with him. He was, after all, much stronger than she was, and she wouldn't have stood a chance. She supposed her fear of a relationship had sprung from that moment, although her love for Rude had not been affected, she didn't know how far that love extended.

"I can love you better..." Cloud said, drawing her attention back. He looked like a small boy who'd been caught doing or saying something he should have and had a defiantly childish look on his face.

"I don't want to be loved Cloud..."

"You asked me if you were allowed to fall in love. Do you remember what I said?"

"No," She confessed, "I don't remember what you said. I don't remember even asking you if I was allowed to fall in love."

"I told you that anyone can fall in love at any time with anybody else, I only hope I'm the one you fall in love with. And you were dreaming then too..."

"This is a dream?"

"100% fantasy."

"I don't want it to fade away Cloud..."

"I'll never let you go."

His lips descended onto hers, and they sank to the ground, the cold tiles scratching flush against her back as he pressed her to them with his body. She could feel his hand sliding up her leg but her brain was too preoccupied by what his mouth was doing to stop him.

She gasped at the kisses he was playing down her throat, even though he'd done it before, in her dreams, his lips were painting a dance sinfully good against her skin as the hand that had slide along her thigh began tugging at the buttons on her shirt. They came free with a few short tugs and his kisses travelled down her chest, leaving a tingling trail in their wake.

She arched up into his mouth as his hand fiddled behind her back, unclipping the bra after several attempts. If her mind had been unfocused before, now it was completely useless, the languorous attention he was lavishing on her putting paid to any forward thinking.

He smirked as she moaned, closing his teeth around the rosy flesh, teasing it with his teeth, simply for the pleasure of hearing his name escape her lips and feel her fingertips press into the back of his shoulders. He'd decided before that he wanted to hear her screaming his name, but he could settle for a moan, for now...

Gods, she was just drowning in this falling sensation, and she would never have imagined him to be so gentle as to elicit such a response from her treacherous body. She couldn't escape the moan of his name that escaped her as his mouth moved lower, drawing a line of kisses just above the waist line of her skirt. She felt his smirk against her skin "Is there a problem?"

She shook her head, her eyes shining as she watched him return to her level, a concerned look in his dark, lustful eyes. "Are you sure? Tifa? You won't regret this?"

She turned her face away, looking out across the tiles and the endless floor. She wasn't sure what she'd regret and what she wouldn't and although she wanted to save this for someone special, she was pretty sure he was the one. "Cloud, why would I regret this?"

"Because this is..."

"My Final Fantasy."

* * *

_**A/N:**_ D'you like that?? 'My Final Fantasy'? xD I just couldn't resist putting that in there lol xD This is likely to be the last chapter for a long while, but I'll be working on it for all that time I'm not posting anything (promise) And any fluffy idea's you have will be greatly appreciated :)

xD I just thought, this is a bit formal coming after all that I just wrote lol xD


	13. Hard to swallow

_**A/N:**_ Once again I find myself apologising for the long delay, and I really hope you guys are putting up with my tardiness and shoddy bits of work I am throwing at you. I'm running out of links between major bits of plot, so I'm really sorry if these next two chapters come out funny(wierd) and a bit short :S

* * *

Weeks had passed since the phone call from Cloud, and Tifa hadn't heard from him since. There had been plenty of evidence that he was around, the photographs and signed notes had been enough to tell her that his group at least hadn't given up on their cause. The most recent letter she'd had from 'The Crew' was written in what looked like blue biro and had the words 'lots of love' on the end. The higher-ups were getting more and more annoyed by the second, calling it petty jokes and taunts. Even the normally placid Aerith was becoming agitated by the regular and consistent stream of pictures arriving every day in separate paper bags with each of the cops' names on them.

If Tifa had not known better, she would say that The Crew was rather enjoying the attention, but the notes and pictures were becoming more and more aggressive in nature with every block she advanced into the city. She could tell she was getting closer to their little hide out, and they were getting worried. She'd been over every inch of the outer edge and found nothing but people racked up on something, some Mako based drug that appeared to be absorbed through the air, most of the remnants of the drug being found in the mouth and air which the lungs breathed out.

But no matter how many records and files she searched through, she could find out nothing about the stuff. It was at these times, when she was elbow deep in files and empty coffee cups, the clock was ticking past midnight and she still had nothing but a brig full of mad people that she wished Cloud was around, so she could quiz him about it. She was sure he would have the answers, or at least some clue as to what Mako was or what it did. All they really knew for certain was it was a natural drug that induced certain reactions from different people, all depending on your genetic make-up. Even if Cloud didn't look like a scientist, he had to know a bit about it if he was the one dealing it out to people.

She'd searched through every lead; every possible bit of a clue and come across nothing, but there was still one place she hadn't tried. It hadn't occurred to her before, but now, the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. And even if it was leading to a dead end, it was worth a shot wasn't it? Which was the reason why she was currently standing outside a pub called the seventh heaven with a hopeful and determined look on her face.

She pushed her way through the door and stopped. It had taken her forever and a day to find out who had arrested cloud, and where from, and how many pubs or bars were there around there and what were they called and how long they were open for and finally, after checking every other pub and bar in the district, this was her last hope. And much to her dismay, it was practically empty.

Walking over to the bar, she slid onto a stool and put her handbag on her lap as the bar man walked over. "What can I do for you miss?" he asked her, cleaning out a shot glass with a tea-towel.

"A Bloody Mary please." She said, leaning her elbows on the bar and giving the place the once over.

"Not many here I'm afraid," the man said, placing a glass on the bar and bending down to the fridge to fetch out some tomato juice. "They're all out playing Cowboys and Indians."

Tifa nodded, she'd heard the phrase, it was usually a term used by gangers for toying with the police. "Do they all do it? Playing?"

"Oh yes, it's a favourite past time, other than keeping my little business running. They're a nice crew really."

Tifa picked up the glass and took a sip, letting a small smile cross her lips at the thought, "Mhmm… I only wish they were here, I was looking for someone actually, I thought he might be in here."

The barman dropped the towel on the depressed surface in front of him and leant forwards, a look of confusion and interest crossing his face. "Really? I can't think what a nice girl like you would want with that motley lot. Who're you looking for?"

"I've only seen him once before, he helped me when I dropped all my files in the street – I'm such a klutz – and I wanted to see him again. He was blonde with vibrant blue eyes and…" She lapsed into silence with a dreamy look on her face and the barman gave her a knowing look.

"Sounds just like the boy. He's always getting into trouble, got a lot of responsibility on his shoulders poor kid. Had a dark past too, but he turned out alright. He's here most days; I can pass on a message if you like?"

"Oh no, I haven't really got a message, I just wanted to thank him. Besides, he probably wouldn't remember me..."

"I'd say he would," the bartender said smiling, "Famous girl like yourself, anyone would remember your pretty face."

Tifa blinked in surprise, "Famous?"

"Oh yes," the barkeep beamed, "You're the famous female cop working on that drugs case aren't you? Tifa Lockheart?"

"Oh," she gave him a small smile, "Yeah, that's me. Well, can you tell him I came then?"

"Of course!" He beamed, seeming only too happy to oblige. Thanking him, Tifa finished up the rest of her drink and left some money on the bar, which he happily took, and left. Well, that cleared that up then didn't it; this was where the crew was hiding out, and Canary was here too it would seem. Now all she really needed to do was get the place staked out, and then wait for them to return.

It was well past midnight when Cloud pulled up at the entrance to the seventh heaven and dismounted his bike, he didn't feel the need to lock it as anyone around this neighbourhood stupid enough to steal it would soon find themselves 6 feet under. The bar was full and noisy, the crew having returned from the labs with a new load of information and their favourite bar seemed the best place to congregate.

"Evening Trev," He greeted the bartend as he slid onto a stool, "Half a pint of lager."

"Only half a pint?" Asked Trev, pouring the requested beverage into a glass and setting it on the beer mat on the counter, "A little meek for a budding alcoholic isn't it?"

"I'm not an alcoholic," Cloud laughed good naturedly, bringing the drink to his lips and taking a gulp, looking around the bar at all the organised confusion, "Just been enjoying my life a little bit, that's all. Anything new around here?"

"Not really." Trev said, leaning over the bar to rest with his elbows on it and looking out at the bar with Cloud. "The boys only just got back and look at the mess they've made already!"

"Yeah, it's awful, sorry about that." Cloud apologised sheepishly, "I'll warn them to calm down a bit next time. Can't have the police finding this place, what with all the crims hiding out here."

"Oh!" Trev stood up suddenly, drawing Clouds attention back, "That was something I was meaning to tell you! A cop came looking for you here!"

Cloud coughed, spitting his mouthful of lager across the floor and began choking "What? (Cough) Here? (Splutter) Who?"

"That really pretty cop who's in charge of your case, Tifa Lockheart." Trev said, whacking Cloud on the back a few times. "Said she wanted to thank you for picking up her files for her in the street."

Recovering himself, Cloud straightened out, giving the glass in his hand an apprehensive look, then put it down on the bar and got up, shoving his way through the crowd until he got to a window and peered out. It was dark outside, but if he shaded his eyes up to the glass, he could just make out a figure standing by the corner, watching the bar carefully from the shelter of an overhang.

Swearing, Cloud turned back to the bar and took in the chaos around him, people playing pool, others singing, smoking, shouting at each other and even fighting. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out his gun and fired a single shot at the ceiling, wincing as a lump of plaster fell down next to him. The bar stopped dead, every head in the place turning to stare at him with wide eyes as he put away the gun and addressed them all.

"Look, guys, this is deadly serious and I need you all to listen carefully to what I'm about to say. Outside, on the corner is a police officer. He is watching this bar. Sometime today, Tifa Lockheart came to this bar searching for us and now she knows where we are we can't stay here. The police could barge through that door any minute, so we need to get out. I don't need to go into detail when I say that it is vitally important that none of us get caught, but it will be safer for us to go out alone or in pairs." He gave the room a studying look before saying, "Don't use the front of back door. We'll go out through the roof. Clear the bar."

The moment he stopped talking, the bar sprang to life, people grabbing jackets, phones, dumping glasses and bottles on the bar as Trev hurriedly packed them away behind the counter and running about finding the people they needed. Cloud grabbed a set of keys from a hook by the door, and ran up the stairs beside the backdoor, the crew hot on his tail. He unlocked the roof hatch and pulled himself through, reaching down a hand to help others through. He was relieved to see that the people who were leaping across roves weren't all going in the same direction and was happy that they'd remembered what he'd said to them about evasive tactics.

When the last person was through, he jumped back down the hatch, and crept down the stairs to peer into the bar. It would have seemed they were just in time, as the bar they had only recently vacated was now sporting three policemen, wearing all the gear, stun guns and tasers clearly visible on their belts. Cursing under his breath he left the keys on the bottom step, Trev would have to find them later. He peered around the rest of the bar; it didn't look as though Tifa was with the three policemen, so he should be safe for a little while at least. Although only three policemen? Were they really taking him seriously? It would take more than three policemen to catch him and his crew, and Tifa knew that.

Suddenly it occurred to him, if there were only three here, and Tifa knew they wouldn't be enough, where was the rest of the force? He swallowed as the answer came to him, they must have been waiting for him and his crew to come outside. And even worse, they were bound to have snipers on the rooves. A sickening feeling of dread fell over him at the thought that he may have just sent his entire crew to the knackers.

Creeping back up the stairs, he pushed open the hatch and peered out. So far the coast was clear. He dragged himself through, crouching low and running to the edge of the building to look out over the rooves. The good thing about the Mako gas, was that it allowed him to see in the dark, and infra-red too, which was infinitely helpful in these sorts of things. He could see all heat for as far as the normal eye could see, and just as far beyond it too and was currently counting all the like spots of heat that were lying on the black rooves around him. 6 snipers on the rooves, although none of them looking his way, and if he looked down he could see 8 more little spots watching the front of the bar alone. That and the 3 inside and it was bringing him up to 17 officers already, and that wasn't even counting the ones he was sure would be there at the back too.

He swore under his breath and turned to lean against the slight lip of the roof. How did Tifa even find this place? It wasn't exactly the most visited area of town, and it was certainly nowhere near her apartment so she couldn't have stumbled across it by accident. A part of him wondered if maybe someone in his crew had turned him over, but as much as he hated to admit it, he was clueless and just clutching at straws here. He would need to talk to Trev if he was going to get any more of an idea of how Tifa had found out about it. Or maybe even talk to Tifa herself... But there was stuff he needed to do before that happened.

Scurrying over to the opposite side of the roof, he took a running jump onto the next roof over, following it through with another leap, each jump taking him further and further away from the bar, and further and further away from danger. There was someone he needed to talk to, and there was no way he could use his phone in the open out here surrounded by so many people who were out baying for his blood. He needed to get away and get to safety.

* * *

_**A/N: **_Now you may have just read that and thought... 'Wow... that was a huge waste of my time...' but I kid you not when I say this was an important milestone in the "tale". And if this all seems a bit vague, it's because I'm trying to save all my best bits until the final stand-off as it were xD When I can throw them all at you in a huge confusing ball of badly written grammer and punctuation, because you just _know_ that's what I'm gonna be concentrating on xD...

Anyway, heres hoping you enjoyed reading it, and are going to enjoy reading the next bit as well :)


	14. Ring ring

Part 19.

"Y'ello?"

"Rose, I need your help."

"With what?"

"With the fact that I'm being hunted down like a dog and there is no way in hell I am gonna be able to get out of this one without some serious help?"

"Geez, what've you done this time?"

"Developed a drug based on the chemicals I found in my own blood and turned into a gas that only bonds with certain people and had it under control but it got out somehow and now the city is being overrun by blood thirsty madmen and-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, stop. Rewind. Slow-motion. The city is being overrun by blood thirsty madmen?"

"...Yeah... Haven't you been reading the papers recently? About that cop who's running about detaining a load of people and is currently chasing me as I'm the main culprit for this whole mess?"

"...Nope... Can't really say I have..."

"Oh, well then, there's a cop who's been running around detaining a load of people and is currently chasing me as I'm the main culprit for this whole mess."

"Ok. But what do you want me to do? Kill her?"

"No! Don't kill her!"

"I was only suggesting it, I mean I-"

"Well don't."

"Ok. But if you ever change your mind..."

"Rose, don't kill her. I just need you to... Find out some things for me."

"Ok, like what? And am I gonna get paid? I'm sorry Canary but I can't work for no pay, even for your gorgeous arse."

"Yeah I'll pay you and I want you to find all the dirt you can on the Shinra Company."

"Christ, whaddaya wanna know that for?"

"Just do it. Please? It's super important that I have all the information I can get. And also, talk to Pup about an extra bit of work I'm gonna have to ask you to do ok?"

"Sure sure what ever man, but you're getting yourself in pretty deep aren't you? Messing with the Shinra Company? They could have you killed you know."

"Yeah I know, but where I'm going, they won't get a chance."

"Why? Where are you going?"

"...Don't worry about it, just do what I said ok?"

"I want to know where you're going!"

"Take a good guess?"

"Wait... Do you mean... you're turning yourself in? Canary! You can't! I didn't think you were so stupid! I thought you knew about the responsibilities you had! I thought you were smart enough to do this from the outside! You're so-"

"Rose stop-"

"No I won't stop! Do you know how much of a mess your little crusade will be if you turn yourself in? You'd better have a good plan thought out because if you haven't I'm not going down with you! I'll-"

"I'm hanging up if you don't stop."

"Skip out on you! I will! I'm not taking the fall for your little Vendetta! If we're-"

"I'm going!"

"All gonna go to jail then you can count me out! White Rose of Wutai is outta here! You're-"

"Bye Rose!"

"Not dragging this ninja down with the ship! Ohho no! You... Shit he hung up..."

* * *

"This is Mr Fair speaking, how may I help you?"

"Do you greet everyone like that?"

"Oh Canary... Err, no that's just my erm... mumble mumble..."

"Anyway, there's something I need you to do. I've already spoken to Yuff- I mean Rose- and she's agreed to help us out if I pay her."

"What're you gonna pay her in? Knives?"

"Money."

"She'd be happier with the knives."

"Yeah, I know that but that's not the point. I've asked her to get all the dirt she can on the Shinra Company and give it to me. But that's not all. I'm thinking of involving her in the final plan..."

"Really? You think she can handle it?"

"Yeah, I think she can, she's not too dumb for it, she should be able to comprehend."

"It's not her comprehension I'm worried about. She's a kid Canary."

"She's 17."

"Exactly! She's a kid!"

"I joined the Shinra program when I was 14! What was I? A toddler?"

"That's different."

"I don't see how it is."

"Back when we joined that program we weren't involving ourselves with the police or anything remotely unsafe. The lives of an entire crew, plus some, were not resting on our heads."

"I'm not expecting her to do the entire thing by herself. Everyone's involved. Even Galian Beast has a part in the ending."

"...You really think this is drawing to a close?"

"Yeah, course it is. Don't worry Pup, I've thought about this from every possible angle and it is going to work this time. I know it is, if everyone sticks to the plan."

"So... What is this plan you're talking about?"

"I can't tell you it on the phone, I think the police are listening, but I've written the whole thing down and it's in the screw box in my tool kit."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Why the tone of surprise?"

"Just sounds like something they'd do in a movie or something. Does the bottom come out the all the draws in your office too?"

"Naturally."

"Wicked..."

"Oi, focus here."

"Sorry."

"Anyway, I want you to take control of everything for a while. Everything you need should be in that box."

"Take control? What for?"

"I'm not going to be here for a bit Pup, there's some stuff I need to do... But I'll try and keep you posted. You'll know when to start with the plan."

"I'll know will I?"

"Yup."

"Sure?"

"Absolutely positive."

"...Why do I get the feeling you're smirking on the other end of this line?"

"Not a clue mate. I couldn't smirk now for the world..."

"Wow... This is a really depressing conversation..."

"It is isn't it...? Well I'm gonna go now, good luck with the plan. Wink."

"Geez..."

"What?"

"'Wink'."

"Yeah haha, well, I'll see you around. Bye."

"Bye."

* * *

"Oh my god Pup!"

"I know!"

"He's so stupid! I told him not to do it!"

"You knew?"

"Well yeah but I didn't think he meant he was gonna do it so suddenly!"

"He's so... so..."

"Infuriating?"

"Yes that! And some! I wish I could get my hands round his scrawny neck and strangle all the life out of his skinny little carcass!"

"But we can't now can we... What're we gonna do Pup?"

"He left us some plans..."

"Plans..."

"For the final stand I guess... But most of it relies on you getting the information about Shinra... And taking out some of the big ones... He's given you a big part in this little charade of his..."

"Oh gawd... he even left plans... He must have been thinking about this for ages."

"Since the beginning."

"What?"

"Some of these note are dated from three months ago... he's been planning on turning himself in since three months ago, he's just been looking for an excuse, and now he's gone and done it..."

"I wonder what he did..."

"Slept with that cop probably."

"What? How does that constitute enough of a reason to turn yourself in? 'Oh I slept with this girl, now I can turn myself in to the police as a mass crime lord and the fabled Yellow Canary of the Mountains!' Sheesh what a dunce..."

"Yeah but he made a deal, or at least that's what it says here, dated from... 2 and a half months ago... Made a deal that if she kissed him he'd let her go, if she slept with him he'd turn himself in."

"Ahh... So a get-shagged-quick scheme... I like it."

"Yeah, I like the idea too, apart from the fact that now the only things we've got left is a city full of blood sucking creeps and a screw-box full of green swirly bullets one gun and a load of bits of paper with his illegible scrawl on them."

"Green swirly bullets?"

"Yeah, they swirl if you shake them... I don't know what they've got in them, or where he got them from, but I'm betting they're for you."

"And the gun?"

"Got a label on it for Galian Beast."

"Galian beast? Who's that? Another of your creeps?"

"Used to work for Shinra, had a bit of a sad past, won't talk about it... Get's all broody like Canary does... But he's a fair shot with a gun, and this one's got three barrels on it."

"Three barrels? I've never seen a gun with three barrels before. It's for rapid fire I guess. Does it look like a shot gun?"

"A bit I suppose. It's got the handle and loading for it, but it takes rounds, not cartridges."

"Wow... wonder if he'd mind if I-"

"Yes I think he would _definitely_ mind if you did _anything_ to that gun. You've got your own special new toy and your own work to do now Rose."

"But mine sounds so boring..."

"Yeah but you get to customise your gun."

"Really? I get a custom gun?"

"Yeah. You make it yourself."

"Awh what? But I dunno how to make my own gun!"

"Well you better get cracking and learn then. He said he didn't have enough time to make it or have it made himself, so you're going to have to do it. There's also a little bit of paper with your name on it. Says 'All Puppies keep out' on it too..."

"All puppies – hahaha! Oh gosh that's funny! He must have know you'd read all the bits if you got the chance."

"Yeah but the piece of paper with _my_ name on it says 'All pests keep out'. That means you. So I'm not sure what you're laughing about."

"Yeah... We're in shit man..."

"Not if we stick to the plan."

"Deep, deep shit..."

* * *

_**A/N:**_ Okay, I know this is a bit of a weird chapter, and you can probably guess who all the people are, but if you can't White ROSE of Wutai, there's a clue, go figure.  
I'm sorry this chapter came out a bit weird, and the time skips are terrible, but I couldn't really think of another way of writing this bit and it seemed like an okay way to do it, opinions?  
The lemon is coming up sometime, probably next week or the week after that, I'm not promising it, but it's definitely in the plan, as you can probably tell from this chapter xD Also the rest of the plot relies on it. ;)

R&R please :D


	15. Vampire Dreams

Part 20

_Black clouds hung high above his head, swirling as his world crashed down around him, on a hospital bed, in the morgue, on the roof of the building he was lying on, hanging over the edge like a damp cloth, slung over the lip of the wall, limp, unmoving, unwilling to fight any more for his cause, his life, his love. He thought back to the beginning of the day, waking in his bed to the smell of coffee and toast. Having a shower and letting the scolding hot water run over him but being too tired to think of turning down the temperature and instead struggling on with the shampoo in his eyes and the soap slipping and sliding from his hands._

_She was in the kitchen when he came down stairs, dressed in his black suit and tie, the Shinra custom holder hidden in his jacket, as it always was, his trusted desert eagle carefully put out of sight. She hated when he had guns with him, especially at the breakfast table, and now, to avoid being scolded so early in the morning, he would hide it in his jacket, though she knew he still had it on him._

_He gave her a kiss good morning, and sat down to a piece of toast and a cup of black coffee. He hated milk, so his coffee was always black. He hated black coffee, so he only ever had half a cup, but the toast was just the way he liked it, golden brown and a centimetre thick in orange marmalade._

_When his breakfast was finished and she'd brushed the crumbs from his suit he asked her, "How do you feel, both of you?"_

_She smiled as she steered him towards the door, "Well enough to go to work, now you better hurry or you'll be late __**again**__!"_

_Chuckling, he got on his bike and drove away, the visor shading his eyes and face, but the image of her waving to him from the front porch was as clear to his amber gaze as ever._

_The same people greeted him and the day went the same as it always had. He had no reason to expect this day to be any different than it ever was, but when the screams had come over the intercom, and the Turks office had gone quiet, his stomach had dropped through him to the floor and the panic had risen in his chest as the faces around him became frightened. But he couldn't waste time; his wife was in the labs!_

_The shouts that followed him through the door quickly changed to footsteps as he ran, faster than ever, his feet carrying him past the elevator and to the stairs, taking them four at a time, running all the way down to the metal door at the bottom, where his card snapped off in the lock, but not before it had clicked open and he was through._

_Horror and fear surged through him at the sight of the once clean labs, now blood splattered and body ridden. His feet took him on a staggering, faltered path, searching in painful slow motion through the bodies littering the floor for one person, one woman._

_He dropped to his knees beside a barely breathing body and looked around. The Turks were at the door, hands over mouths, guns in hands, arms wrapped tightly around retching guts. He called out to them for help, his wife needed help. It was 30 minutes of agony and endless nothings before the ambulance could come._

_Scratches on the floor, the walls. Bits of metal in flesh, clutched tightly in bleeding, sawn off fingers scattered across the marbled red surface. It was like a nightmare before his very eyes, red rimmed from tear and hardened from anger, anger at the monster that had decimated the lab. Not that he could blame it, whatever it was, it was like a morgue down here anyway, bits of bodies in bags in boxes, in fridges, with pipes and tubes and floating horrible and white in tanks of murky green water. Most things that lived in the lab were either dead or alive, barely alive, very alive, walking and talking and dragging screaming carcasses across metal floors with locks on every door and keys and chains on every hook, every limb._

_The shudder that ran through his body was echoed around the room, the very walls seemed to be afraid of him, of the things around the corners, hunchbacked and rocking, with terrible rasping breaths that rattled through the blood that swam in their lungs. He could already smell the rage on the creature, could taste its fear on his tongue as it flew at him, enraged, like a great beast, one wing flapping and dragging on the floor and the wind._

_The bullets ricocheted off the walls as he pulled the trigger again and again. His world was passing in a blur, and all too soon he was dragging his feet to a run behind the thing with the talons and wing and the rasping, rattling breath that sent chills up and down his spine. Rain was pouring thick from the sky as they burst upon the roof. He could barely see his opponent, though it would hardly have mattered. It leapt from the roof and disappeared into the night, the shredded material of its greasy black wing flapping behind its shadow._

_There he slumped, across the lip of the roof, staring blindly into the darkness. Since the happiness of the morning, to the tragedy of tonight, he's been thinking; about himself, his wife, his child... He'd been so happy to discover he was going to be a father, and Lucrecia had been just as pleased. But now, she was in an ambulance on her way to the hospital, and if the trauma didn't kill the child then they were lucky. A shuddering breath escaped his body at the thought._

_He didn't go with them in the ambulance, there were too many wounded, too many dead, there was simply no room for the father to be. It would be some hours later that he was admitted to the hospital himself and later still that they would tell him. They would sit him down in a comfortable chair, with a cushion and arms, and tell him. They did all they could. They tried for hours to repair the damage. The operation wasn't a success, that she would have had to fight it on her own. That she failed. That she died. Did he know she was pregnant?_

_Horrible sobs wracked his body, shaking him in his chair as he cried until his eyes were red and dry and he could cry no longer. His life, his love, his wife, his boy, everything he had held dear was lost now. And he cried for the terrible waste._

A/N: So... this needs some explaining I'm guessing? lol xD Well anyway, this is like a recurring dream that Vinnie keeps having about how he lost his child and his wife in the labs at shinra. You can probs guess who the 'creature' is lol xD The rest of the plot also relys on bits of this, and hopefully, if you don't understand this, you might do with the next couple of chapters :)

Lemon is STILL coming lol xD


	16. Revenge

_**A/N:**_ I'm sorry about the huge wait, but you know how it is, study leave and all that, plus writers block, not a good combination. I know basically where the story's going from here, but I really am sorry that the **lemon** isn't there... I know I said it would be... But it's proving difficult to put in. I promise it'll be there before the end. After all, it **_IS_** his reason for turning himself in as I'm sure you've already guessed xD (I did kind of give that away in part 2 lol xD) So anyway, please enjoy this bit, **_INVOLVES RAPE!_** though :/ (well... near-rape :/)

* * *

Part 21 – Revenge.

Rain was pouring thick and cold down the back of his neck, sticking his hair to his forehead, running in rivets down his cheeks. He was watching her speaking into a walky-talky, giving instructions to the people who scurried around her like ants. Small, crushable.

He licked his lips, cracked and parched, then looked about. No one seemed to have spotted him yet, which was good, but he could feel a tension in the air. It was tight and oppressive, a shiver ran up his spine and he smiled; he liked this feeling, it was familiar to him in _so_ many ways.

The dark alley he was hiding in stank of urine and sweat, and blood. His last meal was a heap on the ground behind him, the rain slowly washing the blood down the drain in red rivers. It hadn't been good, and had struggled with him too, lashing out and catching him on the jaw. He'd caught it on the jaw too, the weak bone crumbling like powder under his playful blow. It hadn't lasted long after that, and it hadn't been good. Tasted nasty, smelt nasty, it's muscles no longer holding the toxins in, letting them flow onto the ground.

He looked back over his shoulder at it, a feline expression coming over his face. The body had been pretty when it was walking, but now it was lying in the filth of the alley-way, it's green eyes were dull and glassy, and the blood from it's torn out throat was splattered onto it's chin. It was a pity. Still, it wouldn't bother him that much, and besides, he had another body on the way.

He turned his gaze back out into the rain, to watch her give instructions to a man, he could barely hear her voice, but he could read her lips instead. "Impound the bike, it's important."

He cocked his head to the side, his gaze settling on the bike in question. It was Strife's bike. He knew Strife would want it back. Just like he knew Strife would want this woman. Just like _he_ wanted this woman. His eyes settled on her mouth again. "They're all gone, you were too slow. I'm going home, you should too. Don't disturb me unless it's Canary or his pet."

The cat-like smile spread over his face as he slunk into the darkness of the downpour. His time was coming, and he had to be ready, but he wanted this small piece of fun. This small bit of _revenge_, first.

* * *

She pulled her collar up higher against the rain and dug her hands deep in her pockets. A shiver ran up her spine as she half-jogged half-walked along the street to where the bus stop was. She wasn't overly fond of the rain, and particularly not on this night. She was seething over the fact that they hadn't managed to arrest Canary and she would have to start over again, as he would be just plain silly to return to that bar after tonight.

Stepping into the bus shelter she sat down on the bench and began ringing out her hair, raising an eyebrow at the sheer volume of water splashing onto the floor; anyone would think her head was a sponge.

She was tutting over her ruined blouse when a sound caught her attention. It was raspy, and sounded like breathing. She gulped and stood up; she'd heard this sound before. Reaching round to the gun tucked into the back of her skirt – a USP45 – she turned slowly round to look out of the back of the glass shelter.

Had she been someone with a weaker mind or nerves she may have screamed, but as it was, her stomach simply lurched and her eyes widened in what could only have been fear. A face, deathly white, with long silver hair, hanging in dripping lines into bright, acid green eyes. Thin pale lips were pulled back into a tight grin, exposing sets of pointed teeth that glimmered with a faint pink tinge. Blood?

Then suddenly, a flash of lightning and he was gone. But she could still hear his ragged breathing. She spun round, pointing the gun into the darkness outside the shelter. If she said she wasn't frightened, she would be lying, she was terrified. She took small steps forward, edging closer to the outside, but she still couldn't see him, could only hear him.

Then, as if something out of a nightmare, she saw him, looking at her from the edge of the roof, one cat-like eye peering past the rim at her. Gulping, she pointed the gun at him and fired.

* * *

The ear-splitting bang followed by the shattering of glass as the bullet exploded through the roof of the bus shelter were of little consequence to him as he jumped to the ground, green eyes watching the woman running away into the night. She was foolish if she thought she could lose him in the darkness. He loved the darkness, and she – she had no more chance than a mouse did to an owl.

Slowly he stood, taking in the direction she was headed and making a mental map of the surrounding area. It wouldn't take him long to find her in this neighbourhood, but he wouldn't stay too long, he knew he was unwelcome in this place and the creature who dwelt here would be unhappy if he stayed longer than was strictly necessary. Still, he had enough time to make a game of it.

* * *

She ran. Gun in hand, heart in her mouth, she ran. The rain was getting in her eyes, making it hard to see, and she had no idea where she was going, only that it was away from _that_ creature, whatever it was. As far as she could tell it was wearing nothing but a lot of straps, hanging from it's body in a tattered way that reminded her of a straight jacket, only broken. Did it come from a mental home? It wouldn't have surprised her if it had. But the way it was coming over the roof at her, a demonic fury in its eyes... She had no choice but to shoot it. She didn't even know if she'd killed it, but she had a sickening feeling that she hadn't.

The sound of it's breathing was still fresh in her mind and she shook her head as she ran, head bent against the rain, eyes blinking furiously at the water falling into them. It was the same sound as that man had made, when she'd been attacked in that alley-way. She shuddered; she didn't want to think about it. She just wanted to be home soon. So she could lock the door and all the windows and curl up in her bed, with her head under the covers and her fingers in her ears. But she couldn't do that right now. Right now she was running, for what irrational fear told her may very well be her life.

Out of breath, she stopped and looked around, panting and leaning on something cold. She couldn't see him, but then again, she couldn't see much through the rain. Fear told her she should keep moving. She made to run forwards again, but found her hand to be trapped. Her gaze travelled down her arm in horrifying slow motion as she realised with a sickening dread, what must have been holding her wrist; what she must have been leaning on.

"Boo."

* * *

"Get off me."

He frowned, pulling a face. He didn't like his food to be unsubmissive. He didn't want this woman to turn out like his last meal did. She was a pretty police officer too. But she didn't have the same... Appeal as this one did. His face returned to it's manic expression as he pulled her into an alley way. She tripped and fell to the ground, but that was fine by him and he crawled over her, trapping her arm as he rolled her onto her back.

He had an idea, and he liked it. It was after all, a basic need for any living creature, and she _was_ very pretty and could probably take him easily. So with that thought, he grabbed her free hand and pinned her so she couldn't move.

* * *

His mouth was on hers, cold and harsh and suffocating. She could feel his hand creeping up her leg, his slightly long nails leaving scratch marks on her skin. His weight was on her, pressing her into the ground and she found her legs were trapped under him too, they were tangled in his and she couldn't kick them free, no matter how hard she tried. She managed to pull her arm out from underneath her, but now it ached and the muscles burned from the effort. Her other hand was caught in his and with only one hand free, all she could do was grab a fistful of his long, dripping silver hair and wrench their heads apart.

"I dare you to scream Lockheart," He hissed, the hand which wasn't clamped round her wrist scratching sharply over her thigh, "I dare you to resist this painful, _pleasurable_ experience."

"I wouldn't scream for _you_." She choked back, trying and failing to wriggle either her hand or legs free. He was horrible close; she could see the small brown flecks in his otherwise perfectly green eyes. He smelt and tasted metallic, like blood.

He sneered, digging a fingernail sharply under her skin and pulling back on the skin he gouged out. She bit her bottom lip, a strangled whimper escaping her lips, until she was almost panting from the pain and he smashed his mouth cruelly against hers, a cat-like smile pulled tight across his features.

* * *

Raining again. It always seemed to rain in this bloody city. I hate the rain. But then I love it too. I always used to love it. It always felt clean. Now it feels cold. Like cold fingers gripping everything it touches. It wasn't raining a few minutes ago, but now the heavens have opened and they're letting everything out in a torrential downpour that is it's own form of irritant.

Who knows how many days this creep has spent stalking the police woman now restrained in his over exuberant clutches. But now he's got her, trapped beneath him like a cat plays with a mouse before he kills it. I found his last kill a few streets back. She was pretty before he got hold of her. But in the great scheme of things she was lucky. Luckier than this woman is.

A big part of me wants to turn its head away and shut off all communication with the outside world. But the other part – the morbid part – wants to watch, wants to understand why something like him could do something like this to someone like her. It seems almost surreal that I should be sitting on a roof top, quite at my leisure, while something quite as barbaric and horrifyingly life changing as rape goes on in the alley-way below me. But it does.

What I cannot understand is, while the woman is obviously not enjoying this experience, she isn't calling out for help at all and doesn't seem to have screamed throughout the entire process which I can only describe as; the hunt.

She's a pretty thing, as much of her as I can see, past the white and silver creature in the bandages. Her long hair is fanned out around her in the muddy water, but in the day time it was shining and shimmering and looked almost chestnut in the sunlight. I must admit, I understand why Canary is so taken with her, I feel a slight attraction to her myself, but only for what she has awoken from my past.

I had planned on letting those memories of a chestnut haired woman with long legs and shining eyes to rest, but it seems the world will just not let me have my peace. I will certainly not get any peace from Canary if I let anyone spoil his infatuation.

Letting a sigh slip past the barricade of attitude, I pull the straps a little tighter on the gauntlet on my hand, and slide from the roof.

It turns to stare at me as I land, bent-kneed and quite, in the entrance of the alley. Her desperate eyes pin to me too. Taking a few steps into the relative shelter of the alley, I say "I didn't know you were becoming so desperate."

"I'm only taking what was rightfully mine." He speaks back, the words coming out in a bored sort of drawl.

"Explain how Miss Lockheart came to be yours? Rightfully or not." I request, keeping my tone light and unbothered, although inside I was instantly seething at his arrogant self-righteousness.

"I'm taking my revenge for my wounded knee." He says, as though it's obvious and if he had a tail it would have been swishing in annoyance. I was somewhat pleased to see I was getting on his nerves.

"Then let me take my revenge also."

"_Your_ revenge?"

"For a wounded heart."

* * *

A/N: You probably guessed it, but the next chapter is called wounded heart and should be out in the next few days. I have already started writing the lemon if it makes anyone feel any better? :) **?R&R?**


	17. Wounded hearts

**_A/N:_** Here you are, the moment you've all been waiting for! Sorry about the last cliff-hanger, but I just couldn't resist xD Anyway, with that said, enjoy yourselves you lovely readers :D You know I love you all right? ;)

* * *

Part 22 – Wounded hearts.

"Pah!" He let out a cackle, "That's the biggest load of bull I've heard in a while from you, Valentine."

I raised an eyebrow and folded my arms. "Where's your wounded knee then, Project Jen-?"

"Shut-up!" He yelled suddenly, scrambling to his feet and advancing towards me, allowing Lockheart the chance to drag herself away to the edge of the alley – smart girl.

I watched him for a few moments as he skittered from side to side in front of me, hissing and snarling with rage, before I reached into my pocket and took out an identification card, the end of which had been snapped off. I rubbed a thumb over it's surface, wiping away the rain water. The image was of a pretty woman with chestnut hair and lovely green eyes, which held small brown flecks if you were close enough to see them. I held it up to him and he stopped his restless movement. "Do you remember this woman?"

He cocked his head to the side, looking intently at the picture, before his top lip pulled back into a sneer and he hissed, "No."

"It was my wife." I explained calmly, stowing the card safely back in my jacket pocket. "You killed her when you escaped from the mansion labs. I never got to kill you that night, but I will now."

Just as I went to pull out my gun, my faithful Desert Eagle, Lockheart spoke up from where she was huddled against the wall. "Wait! What do you mean he escaped? From where?"

My gaze passed from Lockheart, to _him_, and back again, unsure of what I should say. I must admit it was very tempting to tell her about the whole incident at the Shinra labs, but then I didn't know how _he_ would react to my bringing it up again, it was my guess that he didn't want her learning of his true identity, his true origins, and he may well kill her just to prevent it.

But to my surprise, he straightened up, turned to her and said, quite clearly, "Shinra is a dirty little company that messes with people's souls and deprives them of the privilege so many of _your_ persuasion call life. If you were a nice, good little cop, you should have done your homework."

She frowned, glancing at me for a reaction, but receiving none, she continued talking – if a little hesitantly – to _him._ "Shinra deals in power. It's got a few ties with the politics of the country, but apart from that it's a fairly normal company. It doesn't have the power to deprive people of life."

"Oh yes it does! Oh yes it does!" He chanted, "Tell her Valentine! Oh yes it does!"

At her glance, I nodded. He continued. "You wouldn't know because you were born lucky, but _some_ of us were hardly born at all! I was hardly born at all wasn't I Valentine! Wasn't I!"

I nodded again, feeling less and less uneasy now that his attention was drawn to something he obviously obsessed over. I only hoped that Lockheart knew what she was doing; far too many young cops have lost their lives for digging in too deep. "Shinra has got a very dark past that will be hard to discover and even harder to prove. You'll have your work cut out for you if you're trying to attack the Shinra Company. They have a lot more power than they're given their credit for."

She nodded, then frowned, "But you said he escaped from the 'labs'? And killed someone? Your wife?"

"He killed everyone." I corrected. "Everyone in his department. Only two people survived. And they're walking around in this very city as we speak."

I suddenly became aware that _he_ had gone very quiet and was watching Lockheart with a deep menace in his eyes that I didn't like. Didn't like at all. His mouth was working slowly, as though he was having trouble forming words, or thinking of the right thing to say. But anyone who knew anything about this creature knew that he didn't very well _think_ about anything he said or did. He just did it. Just like he killed my wife. And I shouldn't blame him, because even I would have gone mad in that place, but he killed my boy too, my unborn baby boy.

He took a step toward her and I raised the gun. "Not another step lab-rat, or you're history."

Both of them looked at me as though I was mad, their eyes flickering from the gun, to my face and back again, then his eyes turned a hard shade of green, and a quivering smile broke across his face as he said, "I think I loved her."

* * *

"I think I loved her."

Valentine's face contorted to somewhere between agony and rage, the corner of his lip pulling into a throaty snarl as he retorted. "You don't know what love is! How could you have loved anyone let alone my wife!"

The creature cocked it's head on the side, his smile never faltering as he said calmly, "How could I not love my _mother_?"

Tifa gasped, as Valentine's eyes widened and his finger pulled on the trigger, sending bullets ricocheting from the alley floor and the dumpsters at the end. She'd never seen a living being move so fast. One moment the creature was there, and the next he had vanished, like smoke on the wind. She could see Valentine was about to follow him into the darkness, his face had set into a grim expression like granite, a cold determination in his eyes and a sudden stab of fear for being alone made her call out to him. His vision snapped to where she was huddled against the wall, a fearful look on her face, and he seemed to soften slightly.

He walked over to crouch beside her, giving her the once over with his eyes before he let his gaze meet hers. "Are you hurt anywhere other than your leg?" He asked, flicking his eyes to the bleeding wound on her thigh.

"My back hurts..." Tifa confessed, clapping a hand over the hole in her leg and wincing.

"Can you stand?" Valentine asked, straightening up and offering her a hand – the other was still clamped tightly round the butt of his gun. Shrugging, she took his hand and staggered to her feet. "Where do you live?"

"Pardon?" She questioned, of all the things she'd expected to be asked next, that was not one of them.

"Where do you live?" He repeated. He wasn't even watching her, he was looking around, peering into all the shadows and corners in a way that made her think, maybe it hadn't gone after all, maybe it was still there, watching them.

"Flat 4, Newbury Court."

"That's on the other side of the city isn't it...?"

"Yeah... I guess it is..." She had also taken up the ritual of searching their surroundings and was only vaguely paying attention to Valentine. She was so caught up in her fear and preoccupation that when he reached for her hand she jumped and snatched it back, earning a raised eyebrow and a re-attempt.

She was still peering around when he pulled her from the alley and onto the main street, where he flagged down a taxi and bundled her inside.

* * *

She was freezing cold and shivering like a leaf by the time they got to Tifa's apartment building. Valentine still had hold of her hand and was dragging her along behind him. Her leg had long since stopped bleeding, but had now adopted an unpleasant throbbing.

She collapsed against the door frame when he stopped them by her front door, fitting a key into the lock and twisting it until the door opened with a _click_. "Does everyone have a key to my front door?" She muttered darkly as he pushed the door wide.

"No," he said, dropping the key into Tifa's jacket pocket, "It's yours. I took it to open the door with."

She raised an eyebrow at the fact she had effectively just been robbed, but decided to let it pass as he had practically saved her life and had taken her home too. "Thanks..." she mumbled, stumbling into the apartment, "I know you didn't have to do this..."

He shook his head, "Canary would have thrown a fit if I let anything happen to you."

"You know Canary?" She asked, feeling a little guilty at her sudden interest.

"He _is_ the leader of The Crew. It stands to reason I should know him." He pointed out. She nodded, that made sense, sure, but how had he come to be affiliated with Canary anyway? She was sure she'd have heard about him before if he'd worked for Shinra and had now become part of a huge crime Crew responsible for the Vampire epidemic currently swamping the city.

"But... Shinra?" She questioned, hoping he would take the hint and she wouldn't have to ask him properly, word for word.

"Canary wants to take them down." Valentine shrugged. "They've struck a real chord with that guy, I can see where he's coming from, which is why I was only too happy to join his cause."

He could obviously see she was expecting more information, but there wasn't really that much more he was prepared to tell her, for fear of breaking down in tears or worse... So instead, he checked there was no one else about, leant in closer and whispered, "Shinra, Project Jenova incident, Hojo, Lucrecia Crescent, Projects Z and C. Look it up, make the connections. You'll have no sleep for a month."

Then, without even waiting for a reply, he turned and took off down the hallway and the stairs, leaving her standing in her doorway.

* * *

"Has no one seen her yet?" Tifa asked exasperation colouring her voice as she looked imploringly to the other people in the office. They all shook their heads and busied themselves with filing or emails, desperately attempting to look busy so they wouldn't be asked to assist in the mammoth task Tifa had lined up ahead. Ordinarily it would have been Aerith she would ask, but no one had seen or heard from her since the night of the stake-out, and the lieutenant was struggling with her workload.

Ever since the stake-out Tifa had been running the whole police department ragged with files and digging up seemingly useless bits of history and not a single person had been able to persuade her out of it. When the people assigned to help her became noticeably fewer, she had taken to doing most of the searching herself, but she still prowled the offices looking for people to help her, who perhaps weren't quick enough at getting their head down and on with some work.

She huffed and stalked out of the room, marching down the corridor to her office, leaving a roomful of audibly sighing people in her wake. She walked in, grabbed her phone, keys and 44-Magnum – her other gun was lost in the alley when she tripped and fell – and walked straight back out again, pausing only to lock the door.

She felt like she was going in circles; for all the leads Valentine gave her, they all lead her nowhere. She'd spent most of her time searching through the police records for anything even remotely Shinra related and had found nothing. It seemed that either Valentine was feeding her a load of lies, or Shinra thought it had something to hide, which only made her more interested. And this was the reason she had decided she was going to have to search for the information personally, as Aerith was still not answering her phone.

She wasn't going to ask anyone else to go with her, as everyone in the office considered the whole thing to be a wild goose chase that would leave her dissatisfied and unhappy. But Tifa was sure that when she uncovered the first piece of the mystery, the rest would follow, which was why she was currently on her way to the Edge Funeral Home. The way Valentine had spoken of his wife made her certain she wasn't alive anymore, and if she had been buried anywhere it would have been at the funeral home.

The place was as creepy as was to be expected of a funeral home and the attendant was just as odd, with long greasy hair and thick horn rimmed glasses. He ushered her inside and shut the door behind her. "What can I help you with Miss?" He asked, rubbing his hands together in a less-than-comforting way.

"I was wondering," Tifa said, eyeing his hands warily, "If I could see any records of people who have been buried here in the last 10 years?"

"That's an awful lot of people!" The attendant squawked, the movement of his hands stilling, "Are you sure you don't just want to see a specific year?"

"I don't know the exact year she died in, no."

"Well does 'she' have a name?"

"Yes, Lucrecia Crescent, I think..."

"Ah!" The attendants face lit up immediately and he held up a finger, "I know about her! Mr Valentine comes to lay flowers by the grave every day! Two bunches!"

"Really?" Tifa asked excitedly, "Do you know anything else?"

"Not really, but I could show you her record if you really wish for it?"

"Thank you." Tifa nodded, following the man as he hurried off along a corridor to a room with the name plaque 'Record room'. "This would be such a great help, you have no idea how much I need this information!"

Nodding, he unlocked the door and let her inside, leading the way straight to a filing cabinet with some letters and a few dates on the drawers. He pulled open a drawer and flicked through until he found the file with the name '' written in the tag at the top. Tifa could feel the excitement building in the pit of her stomach, getting tighter and tighter like a coiled spring until the file was opened and-

She grabbed it from him, turning it this way and that frantically, before dropping it on the floor and searching through the drawer it came out of, sliding her hand in between the folders and sweeping it from one side of the drawer to the other, but finding nothing she turned to the attendant and half yelled, "Well, where the _bloody_ hell is it?"

"I-I don't know..." He mumbled perplexed, picking the file up from the floor and opening it again to stare at the empty clips, before looking around as though expecting to find the record on the ground somewhere.

Tifa threw her hands in the air and cried "It isn't there! The one lead I had is _gone_! Gods! And I thought I was _finally_ getting somewhere!"

The attendant was still looking around for the record, the empty file hanging loosely by his side, so she reached out and took it, opening it and having another look inside, picking at the clips half-heartedly; entirely empty. Then she paused, looking at it closely, she couldn't be sure in this light but; she walked outside into the corridor with it, and held it up under the light. There were a few small bits of black stuff that looked suspiciously like ash on the inside of the file. A thought struck her and she held up her hand to the light as well. As she expected, her fingertips were also sporting a light grey film of powder from her searching foray in the cabinet.

A half-satisfying feeling of frustration settled over Tifa as she walked back into the room and tapped the attendant on the shoulder, "I'm taking this in as evidence." She said, gesturing with the empty file, then looked thoughtfully at the drawer full of folders before adding, "And the drawer of folders too."

If the attendant's jaw had dropped any further it would have fallen off. He spluttered and coughed over the fact that Tifa wasn't authorised to remove any of the records from the Home, even as she began replacing the file in the drawer before lifting the entire thing free of the cabinet. Dumping the load on him, she held up her badge and said sweetly, "I'm authorised to take anything I want out of this Home, so could you please carry that to my car? Thank you."

The patrol car sagged visibly under the weight of the drawer and all it's paper, and the attendant was groaning about his back when Tifa shut the boot and pulled out her phone, speed dialling Aerith's number. She tutted when there was no answer and shoved the phone back into her pocket.

"No answer?" The attendant asked, rubbing his back ruefully.

"No," Tifa admitted, "I've been trying to ring her for ages because she said she'd help me with this case, but I haven't been able to get hold of her since 3 nights ago."

"Who is it?" He asked, cracking his back experimentally.

"Aerith..."

"Gainsborough?"

"Yes..."

"Oh, we have her here!" The attendant said cheerfully, happy he could help again so quickly.

"What?" Tifa asked, torn between feeling horrified and angry. If this was a joke he was playing on her as payback for making him carry the drawer, she was not going to be pleased. But if he wasn't joking, and Aerith really was here... She didn't even want to think about it.

"Erm... we have a body here which we think is Aerith Gainsborough..." He elaborated, slightly nervous now that his revelation didn't garner the same degree of thankfulness that he had hoped. "We only think it's her!" He added at Tifa's look of abject misery and horror. "If you like, you could see and check if it really is her?" He offered timidly.

Tifa didn't know if she really wanted to go see a dead body, because she knew that if she did name it as Aerith, then she would break down and cry right there in the room with her. But if it wasn't, oh gods if it wasn't, then she would be so relieved that she would practically jump for joy and wouldn't feel the slightest bit unhappy about the lack of a record, but was it a risk she was willing to take? Knowing her luck, it would be Aerith on the tray in the cupboard, and she would be crying for the rest of the week. Suddenly she remembered something Valentine had said to the creature in the alley-way that night, '_I found your last kill a few streets back.' _And her heart sank. She nodded.

* * *

_**A/N:**_ Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse ;) hehehee

R&R please :)

I'm already writing 'the' scene, so you'll have to wait and find out how it ends xD


	18. Ther 1ce ws a pup wth a pipe up his nose

**_A/N:_** Ok Ok Ok... Don't kill me... But it's a bit of a filler chapter xD *looks sweet and innocent (cough cough)*

* * *

Part 23

"Geez, I swear I do so much for that dumb-dumb and this is all the thanks I get," Yuffie complained, fiddling with some modified cartridges, attempting to load her M9 and failing miserably, "one stupid fucked up gun and a few freaky bullets of green goo. GODS!" She screamed throwing both the cartridge and the gun across the room and scowling. "I _hate_ this stupid plan he's got! It's so reckless! What if I get caught?"

"Then we have a problem." Zack sighed. He was collapsed in an arm chair in the midst of the tip Yuffie lived in. She insisted it wasn't a tip, but it resembled for all the world an abandoned warehouse with a concrete floor, a few bits of comfy furniture and then the rest of it was covered in 'Stuff' – to use the general term. There were wires and chains of all sizes hanging from pipes and poles that ran along the ceiling and one wall was covered in a sort of mesh with all her assorted weapons and prised objects arranged over it.

"I know we'd have a problem," Yuffie rolled her eyes, "I would be the one with the biggest problem, I'd be the one who got caught!"

"He's relying on your excellent acting skills to be able to get orders in and out of the place."

"But I'm a ninja, not a clown!"

"I think you'll find most people consider you to be both..."

"Oiy!" Yuffie huffed, fixing Zack with a look which he disarmed with a grin, then leapt down from her perch on top of a pile of boxes to retrieve the bits of her gun she had flung away earlier.

"What're you going to do to it now?" Zack asked, watching her legs flailing around as she dug about inside a pit in the piles of stuff, emerging with the gun and its cartridge and also an old exhaust pipe and some copper plumbing pipe.

"The bullets won't fit down my other barrel, so I need to find a new one." She explained, scampering up the teetering pile of boxes with her finds and plonking herself down, looking a slight shade of green in the poor lighting. "I hate when it sways..." She muttered darkly.

"And a piece of copper piping and an old exhaust are going to be your new barrel are they?" Zack asked doubtfully.

"Nope," Yuffie said, sliding the bullets carefully along inside the pipes experimentally, "These are just to get the sizes I need. I'll make the real barrel with gun-metal. This would just blow up immediately as I pulled the trigger."

"Right..." Zack nodded, wondering how such a young and seemingly sweet girl could know so much about how to make guns and what size barrel she'd need, even to the point of changing and altering other makes of gun to built something to fit the weirdo bullets Cloud had prepared for her.

"Can you have a look about and see if you can find me anymore pipes or tubes please?" Yuffie asked from atop her small mountain, pouting when Zack looked like he might refuse, until he nodded with a roll of his eyes and her face broke into a beautiful smile. "Thank you!" She chimed as he dragged himself from his seat to begin rifling through the mountainous piles of stuff that surrounded them.

"How can you live with so much random stuff?" He asked, inspecting and then tossing away a broken faucet.

"It's not random, I know where everything is in this place and I know how I'm going to use it all." She called down to him, poking a finger into the exhaust pipe, attempting to dislodge a bullet which had gotten stuck halfway down.

"All of it huh..." He mumbled, stumbling his way through a load of netting, finding it hard to believe she had plans for all the crap she had stored up in here. "Is this something like what you want?" He called to her, holding up a bit of blue plastic wire insulator.

"Yeah, toss it up!" She called, holding up a hand to catch it.

Zack waited while she inspected it, then put it to the bullet test, dropping a few bullets down it, then peering down it after the last one got stuck. When she tossed it aside after retrieving her bullet, he sighed and set about searching for another bit of piping. Knowing how notoriously finicky Yuffie could be about anything, he had a feeling he was in for a very long day.

Eventually, after a whole 4 hours of searching, finding, testing, discarding and searching again, Yuffie had three bits of pipe that were to her liking and was happily searching about for some good bits of wood she could use to make a mould for her barrel. This was something Zack was very happy about, as it meant he was now free to curl up on the arm chair and lick his wounds like the poor little puppy he really was, deep down inside.

He had caught himself on so many different objects and bits of tutt that he'd lost count, and the only way he had of remembering was to count all of his battle scars, each seemingly more bloody and more painful than the last. He was only glad he had been out of Yuffie's sight when he'd tripped over a china cat and landed face first in a heap of beach buckets and plastic spades - Lord only knows what she was doing with those.

It was well into the evening once they stopped searching, and Zack was still pottering about looking for anti-septic and plasters, although there was nothing he could do for the ache in his back.

He hated the smell of TCP, his over-heightened senses picked up the stuff from a mile away, and having to put the stuff on his face was like someone suffering from really bad hay-fever stuffing their head into a stack of freshly cut grass and taking a good few breaths in. He ended up using more tissues on his nose than on any of the other weeping fissures on his body.

With his face all bunged up with tissues and his body aching like fury, he collapsed into the armchair and was asleep nearly before his head hit the cushion.

* * *

When he woke in the morning, it was to the muted snoring of a very tired ninja, curled up by the side of the chair, her face partly covered by a cushion, a thick, cylindrical piece of wood clutched tightly in her hands. He couldn't help but smile, even just a little, she was undeniably adorable when she was sleeping and it was obvious she'd been up most of the night making her mould, which was what he assumed the cylinder was for. He slipped it gently from her grasp and took it into better lighting to have a look. It was very professional, made of four bits of cherry wood, the top coming away to show the hollow inside with a column in the centre, complete with tiny little grooves swirling around it, to ensure the bullets wound spin. Both the inner column and the outer edge were fixed into the fourth bit, the bottom, and it looked as though the thing could be taken apart quite easily, although he wasn't going to try it, for fear of breaking it. He did _not_ want to be on the receiving end of Yuffie's wrath if he broke it.

He was about to turn round and replace the mould where he found it when he spied his reflection in a mirror that was left lying propped up against a pile of 'stuff'. He looked ridiculous to say the least. His face was covered in bits of tissue and it looked like he'd cut himself shaving or something. Grabbing a bit of tissue, he pulled it off, trying to wrinkle his nose in discomfort, but finding his nose was also full of tissue. Peering closer at himself he could just about see the tail end of a bit of tissue poking out of his nose. Apparently he'd been breathing in during the night. Pulling a face, he carefully got hold of it and tugged. He immediately let go, shivering and coughing. He really felt like he needed to sneeze, but with a nose full of tissue it was nigh on impossible, so he had to settle for coughing instead. While he really didn't want to leave it there, and walk around all day with his nose stuffed up – heaven forbid anyone should notice it – but if he was just going to start coughing and spluttering when he tried to move it, there wasn't really that much he could do for it.

Deciding he was just going to have to man up and go for it, he got hold of the bit of tissue and tugged sharply. It came out in one, but now he had a nose clear he was free to sneeze for all he was worth, which he did with gusto, sneezing with such force that he took a step backwards, his foot landing on a mechanics tray which promptly slide out from underneath him, sending him on a sideways trip to the floor with a strangled yelp and a bang. He sat up, rubbing his elbow and glanced over at the still sleeping Yuffie, who only snuffled in her dream and turned to face the other way. He raised an eyebrow, wondering how she could sleep through all the noise he was inadvertently making. Shrugging he got to his feet again, giving the offending tray a kick for good measure and turned back to the mirror. To his utmost dismay and disappointment, the other tail end of tissue had disappeared, and no matter how much he shook his head, it wouldn't reappear. He got down on his knees in front of the mirror to try and see if he could see it, but there wasn't enough light and after all, the mirror wasn't the cleanest he'd ever seen either.

Over by the chair, Yuffie was stirring. She'd been in the middle of a very nice dream about a man. He was a bit broody but he had the tall dark and mysterious thing going for him and it suited him quite well, although that wasn't what had interested Yuffie. The man was to be the next victim of the great ninja Yuffie's thievery. He was in the possession of some very nice bits of jewellery, and Yuffie liked what she saw. She was just in the process of reaching her hand into the man's pocket to ferret around and see if she couldn't snatch a few shiny bits of jewellery when suddenly he threw himself at the ground with a yell. Feeling just a bit confused by this, Yuffie watched as the man then scrambled around on the floor with his face pressed to it, sniffing and snorting and muttering something along the lines of 'I can't see it! It must be wedged up mah nose!'. She had been contemplating asking the man what he thought might be wedged up his nose, but she wasn't to get the chance, as the man was snuffling his way out of her vision.

At some point she must have noticed that she wasn't so asleep any more, and the shuffling and banging she could hear was coming from somewhere behind her. Turning her head she looked over her shoulder. Only to find that Zack was clambering all over a mirror she had propped up again an upturned dumpster, his nose pressed to it, snuffling about how he couldn't see something and that he didn't want 'it' to be stuck up there forever. As she clouds of sleep dissipated Yuffie rolled all the way onto her stomach to get a better look at this rare display of idiocy and put her hand on something crunchy. Picking it up, she inspected it carefully. From what she could tell, being as she had only just woken up, it very closely resembled a rolled up wad of toilet roll, coated in some green crusty substance.

For a moment she lay wondering what on earth something like that should be doing lying around on her floor, then reality struck her and she dropped the thing in horror, leaping to her feet like a scolded cat, rubbing her hands on her front and pulling a face of utmost disgust. So THAT was what it was, she thought with a shudder looking from the tissue to Zack, who now had a pipe shoved up his nose and was wiggling it around with a panicked expression.

"Zack," she called out to him, "What're you doing with that pipe stuck up your nose?"

For a brief moment he looked horrified and it seemed he had been so engrossed in _whatever_ it was he was doing with the pipe that he hadn't noticed her waking up. Then he stood perfectly straight, put on an innocent expression and said hesitantly "I've no idea what you mean."

Yuffie raised an eyebrow and said slowly, "You were fiddling around with a pipe."

"Yes?"

"So what is it doing up your nose?"

"It's not."

"Yes it is, I can see it."

For a moment it looked like he might claim ignorance again, but at Yuffie's mildly amused expression and air of You're-an-idiot-and-I-know-you-know-it seemed to get the better of him and his shoulders and expression sagged as he said reluctantly "There's a bit of tissue stuck up my nose and I'm trying to find it."

"With a pipe." Although it came out as a statement, there was a definite note of incredulous disbelief in her voice. He nodded unhappily. "Don't worry," Yuffie said cheerily, "Tissue is bio-degradable."

"I don't want it bio-degrading in my nose!" Zack said horrified at that possibility.

"Do you want the pipe to bio-degrade in your nose?"

"No!"

"Then don't put it up there."

"..."

"What?"

"..."

"You've got it stuck haven't you..."

"..."

"Oh come here I'll pull it out for-"

"No way!" Zack blurted ducking away from Yuffie's outstretched hands.

"Oh come on," Yuffie pleaded, advancing closer to him as he backed away.

"No you'll hurt it!" He complained, covering the pipe with both hands and bending double and Yuffie scrambled over his back trying to grab it.

"I won't hurt it," She huffed, tugging with all her might at one of his hands, "And besides, you don't need it anymore, the tissue's over there on the floor."

"Really?" Zack ques

* * *

tioned, standing up suddenly, pitching Yuffie on the floor and looking hopefully in the direction of the chair.

* * *

Jeff the grocer was just laying out his stalls outside his shop and was enjoying the lovely fresh morning and possibility of a nice day ahead of him. He finished setting out his last crate of carrots and had just picked up his coffee cup when he was almost startled out of his skin by a high-pitched, drawn-out, girly wail.

* * *

"Oh stop crying," Yuffie said, proudly brandishing the pipe at a sobbing Zack, who had both hands clamped tightly over his nose. "Be a man and deal with it. It didn't hurt that much!"

"You pulled it out at an angle!" Zack wailed, his bottom lip wobbling as he added, "And I'm not crying, my eyes are watering that's all."

"Sure sure," Yuffie rolled her eyes, "I believe you Zack, thousands wouldn't."

He glared at her through watery eyes and she sighed, turning her back on him and wandering away, tossing the pipe away into a pile of other discarded pipes.

"Bring my mould would you," She called over her shoulder, grabbing a jacket off a coat stand that was randomly standing amid the tip, "And stop crying like a baby, what's the smithy going to think if you're blubbering like a baby?"

"That you're a bully..." Zack muttered under his breath so that she wouldn't hear, as he bent to retrieve her mould and follow her to the outside world, one hand still clutching at his now throbbing snoz, blinking furiously at the tears threatening to spill down his face once more.

* * *

_**A/N:**_ Thought I'd add in a bit of humour to your incredibly boring lives xD

Also writing this was getting a bit depressing, so I thought I'd put in a filler chapter, and even if you didn't find it funny, I sure did xD Took me a full 3 hours to write this coz I took so much time laughing xD

R&R and the next chapter (the one where you find out if Aerith is dead!) should be out pretty soon :) Have a nice morning/afternoon/evening/night my little munchkins and I shall enjoy reading your REVIEWS later :D


	19. Not that Strong

_**A/N:**_ Okay guys, the moment you've all been waiting for... Is Aerith dead?

* * *

Part 24 – Not that strong.

"Aerith's dead." She said into the phone, her voice shaking as she spun the patrol car onto the interstate, her foot pushing down on the accelerator.

"What?" Came Cid's reply, "What do you mean she's dead?"

"I mean I just had to identify the body," Tifa said, her voice breaking as the memory flooded back, "And it was her."

"Are you sure Tifa?" He asked, obviously hoping that this would be a joke or that she was mistaken. But Tifa knew she wasn't wrong.

"Certain."

"But how- Why did you- why were you-?"

"I was at the funeral home anyway and I mentioned her name and the man said they had her body there and would I identify it? So I did. And it was her- Oh fuck off!" She yelled, pounding her fist onto the horn, blaring it at the driver who was following right on her tail.

"Tifa," Cid started, his voice uncertain but still firm, "I think you should give the case a rest for a bit, too much is happening to you all at once here. You could be the next on the list of dead and I don't want that."

"I'm not going to die Cid." She said firmly.

"Remember what happened 3 nights ago."

"I don't want-"

"What happened 3 fucking nights ago?"

"Cid," she began, her voice sickly sweet, then, "_I DON'T WANT TO FUCKING REMEMBER!_"

She slammed her finger down on the hang-up button and threw the phone in the passenger seat, swerving the car onto the gravel of the hard shoulder, stomping on the breaks to bring the vehicle skidding to a halt, tears free falling down her cheeks, her breathing coming in shuddering gasps as her mind was flooded with memories of the autopsy room.

_The room was cold, like a giant freezer, and was filled with lots of 6 foot deep compartments all along the walls, big heavy doors keeping them shut. There was an island in the centre of the room with a sink and an autopsy table. The whole place was shone with a sickly blue light and a fly-zapper light was buzzing annoyingly in the corner._

_Tifa felt as though she was going to throw up. She hadn't even seen the body yet and it might not even be Aerith, but her stomach was already tying itself in knots at the possibility that Aerith could be dead, and she could be about to name her body, and would she be horribly mutilated? Would there be blood? Would she be able to recognise her at all? By the time they'd walked from the door to the compartment numbered 321 a thousand possibilities must have run through her mind, all of them focusing around an awful reality._

_The attendant led the way nervously to compartment 321. He'd been down in this room so many times that the fact it was choc-full of dead bodies didn't bother him anymore, but he knew how horrifying it was for those required to name them. He'd seen so many people come in nervous and leave again sobbing and he was never happy about the one to have led them there._

_The most disturbing autopsy he'd ever conducted had been in this room right here, but a few nights ago it had found it's competition. The image of the battered and broken body of a woman, laid out motionless on his table, her swollen belly purple with bruising and covered in bite marks was still burned into his memory, and he knew he would never forget it._

_It was maybe the main reason he had found his most recent autopsy so disturbing. The body he had been brought 2 nights previously by Mr Valentine had his hands shaking and his breath coming in small hiccups._

_She had been dressed in a pink floral dress, now blood splattered and muddy, her long chestnut hair had been tied up in a pretty pink ribbon and a police badge identified her as Aerith Gainsborough. In the picture she had looked like a pretty young girl with bright eyes and a large smile. But now, you wouldn't have been able to tell they were the same person._

_The most noticeable of her injuries had to be the damage to her jaw. It was obviously broken, the whole left side of it was caved in and had lost most of its teeth. Her lips were both split and bruised and there was a gash running from her bottom lip all the way down to her throat, which was torn out and ribboned. Her whole face was covered in little cuts and scratches and upon further inspection, there were more little cuts all over her body, turning into bite marks on her arms and hands. There were long silvery hairs trapped within her still clenched fists._

_He was torn between which case disturbed him more, and he had seen his fair share of dead bodies. He wasn't at all confident that this young police woman would be able to handle the sight, particularly as she seemed to know the girl before she died._

_When he had announced that Aerith Gainsborough was where they were he had only been trying to help; he really hadn't thought of the consequences. But now, the look that had taken over the officer's face really made him wish he'd kept his mouth shut. But then again, it was better she found out this way wasn't it? Rather than finding out by some other means..._

_He opened the door and pulled out the tray, revealing a black body bag. He glanced at the woman, making sure that if she wanted to back out she could. She blanched but nodded. He unzipped the bag._

_Tifa gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth as her stomach wretched, tears welling up and spilling over her cheeks at the sight of Aerith's body. Her face was horribly mutilated and it was hard to tell who it was, but she knew immediately. The long lashes and chestnut curls falling perfectly around her even in death still looked the same._

_There was even the small lilly tattoo on her collarbone to give her identification away. Tifa had been there when she had got it done; she even had a similar tattoo on her shoulder blade. In typical Aerith fashion she'd been reluctant to graffiti her body in any way, but at Tifa's prompting had settled for a flower. It seemed ironic now, that they had once jokingly observed that it may come in handy one day._

_Tifa shuddered, biting down on her hand to stop herself sobbing and shut her eyes tightly. She hadn't wiped away the tears yet and could only focus on hugging herself and keeping quiet._

"_Is it... Her?" The attendant asked quietly, although he had already known by her reaction and the police badge's proclamation, he felt it was better to still give her the benefit of the doubt._

_For a long time Tifa didn't answer, unwilling to face the truth about the girl currently lying lifeless before her by voicing it out loud. It was only when her hand had begun to bleed with the force of her bite and she had returned her breathing to a reasonable speed, only then did she remove her hand from her mouth and speak the word she knew would break her down to tears once more. "Yes..."_

_She felt sick, as if her stomach was about to empty it's contents onto the floor at any moment. But she swallowed the urge, using the solid reason that Aerith was her best friend and vomiting would not be paying her proper respect. So instead she delicately moved a strand of hair back into place with the others and out of her white, cold face._

"_I have to leave," She said at last, voice barely a whisper, but perfectly audible in the silence of the near autopsy room, "I have to find out what did this..."_

"_The bite marks are human." He said, opening the bag slightly more to reveal a jaw shaped wound on Aerith's shoulder. At first glance the bite looked canine, but even as she looked at it Tifa could already tell this was not the case, the two incisors were far too flat to belong to a dog of any kind and evidence showed they had to tear the skin, rather than simply slicing it as sharper more carnivore teeth would have done with ease._

"_Do you know where she was found?" Tifa asked, her tone strict and cold, so much so that the attendant looked up from his inspection of the bite mark with a surprised expression, amazed but also to a degree intimidated by Tifa's apparent quick recovery._

"_N-no," he stammered nervously, silently wondering if the brooding man would appreciate his revelation as he said, "But Mr Valentine was the one who brought her... He'd know."_

"_Thank you." Tifa said almost brashly, turning and walking away without so much as a backwards glance. She left the home and was gone by the time the attendant had replaced Aerith's body and scampered after her, hoping to maybe talk a little more about the possible circumstances of the girl's death. So there was little else he could do but sit back in his seat behind the front desk and ponder the situation he had found himself in._

Cars sped past her as she cried, her head having fallen onto the steering wheel in her despair at the memory. She didn't want to believe that Aerith was dead, even now as she was sitting in her car, there was still a shred of hope left in her heart that the girl she had seen wasn't Aerith, but was in fact someone else. Someone else with the same hair, same tattoo, same police badge labelling her as none other than _the_ Aerith Gainsborough- "Fuck!"

It seemed to be the only word she could find to suit the situation she had found herself in. Her best friend was dead, bitten to death by some _human_ being, quite possibly the same _human_ being who attacked and almost **raped** her on supposedly the same night as Aerith's death... Explaining the blood on his teeth... In his mouth... In that – for lack of a better word – _kiss!_

"Fuck..." She repeated, quieter and more heartfelt than before, clutching her head as the horrific reality of what had happened really caught up with her. She sat up slowly in her seat, wiping at the tears under her eyes and looking at her phone. She had no one to call. Aerith was dead. Aerith was the reason she needed to call someone. Cid had been no help. '_You could be the next on the list of dead'_ his words came back to her and she swore. "Fuck..."

He was right of course. She could be next. She just didn't want to admit it. She was always the shoulder to cry on, the immovable, suffer-it-in-silence type that everyone turned to for shelter from the storm. She was a natural born fighter. But this time round she was the one who was frightened and was looking for a place to turn. Someone to fight for her and tell her it would be alright.

This time, she didn't have that someone there for her. And it hurt her more than she had ever thought possible, the stark realisation that this time she was entirely alone. The reality of this struck her like a thousand vaults to her heart, constricting it and suffocating her until she was sobbing and rocking and no words were coming from her mouth. It was a horrifying thing to be witness of. But the truth really was, she was not that strong.

* * *

**_A/N_**_**:**_ Granted it's not that long, but the quality was there wasn't it?

The next chapter needed to be separated from this one as I'm sure you know and I'm sure you must be getting a bit *raised eyebrow in the hopes you understand* about the lack of lemons in this story, but I honestly don't know where to put it... I have an idea... But I'm like the characters lol I just can't find the time ;)

R&R please :)


	20. Reunited

_**A/N:**_ Warning people, this one's a long one :D But I hope you'll like where I leave it :D I'll give you a clue, it's something I've been promising to write for a very long time ;)

* * *

Part 25 – Reunited.

The blue sky reaches far over the buildings that make this city, all of them Shinra powered, all of them filled with people who are effected by Shinra's power. To the east, past the desert lies green, flower filled fields, mountains with rushing, running water which crashes down falls and rapids, carving an ancient path through the forests of tall, pointing trees. High on the mountains there are pines and firs, lower down, where the waterfalls and torrential rapids have changed to nothing more than babbling streams, oak and elder grow.

People travel there for the fresh air and the markets, the Chocobo races and the glorious sights. Healin is a beautiful place and is somewhere I have often wanted to venture to, but now I lack both the money and the inclination. Where once I dreamed of it as a future home for my family, maybe with a dog, or even a miniture Chocobo of our own, now I only wish to leave it in my dreams, as that is all Healin is to me; a fleeting dream of impossible beauty.

Now I roam this city, greeting people I knew when my soul wore better, buying food for a body that takes little in and spits more out. I've no job, no family, no life to say the least. But I'm kept going by a burning in my blood that until recently had been entirely metaphorical.

Canary and his Crew have given me a new light in my soul, a new gleam in my eye that is entirely feral and will not be calmed until my thirst for revenge has been quenched. I was so angry from my quarrel with _him_ that I was left somewhat defenceless in the face of the police Lieutenant and found myself saying more than I really intended to.

I suppose that's how Canary must feel when he's with her; thrilled and exhilarated to be able to confide in someone with such an undoubtedly pure heart. In those few moments it took me to drop the few hints and clues I would allow her, I felt as though she had captured me, body and soul, and in that moment I would do everything in my power to please her. Fortunately I have never been known to surrender myself at only a moment's notice. If I had, I may have ended up like Canary, making promises I would later regret.

Canary – now there's a card – he's headstrong and brave, with a mind like a wolf and a grin to match. I can honestly say it was his cunning and charisma that attracted me to his offer of retribution. The day had offered little to me and there were no surprises there, so as soon as Canary had invited me into his little 'clique' I gladly accepted, not fully understanding what I had let myself in for. But now the feeling of that substance, blessed or cursed, is a feeling I will not give up. I think I'm addicted to this feeling of _raw_ power that burns through my veins and if it was for this feeling alone I am loyal to him; to Canary.

However, as I stand around outside the newest base, breathing in the glorious air and enjoying the blue sky, I am reluctant to go inside and join them. Not because they're not a pleasant bunch. Not because I do not wish for their company. But because I am not looking forward to Canary's reaction when I tell him-

"Tifa was **raped?**"

Canary looks like he just saw it happening with his own two eyes, the pool cue in his hands forgotten as the whole garage becomes instantly silent at this newest bombshell. Looking about at all the faces now focused on me from all directions I sigh and head over to the juke-box in an effort to fill the void with some form of noise.

"Vince," He says by my shoulder, "was she really...?"

I didn't even notice him moving to stand by me; he was so silent and so fast, even in this state of obvious distress. I slot a few coins into the machine, turning up the volume so nobody could hear before I murmur, "I stopped it. But it was close."

He sighs audibly and I can't blame him, I would be relieved at hearing my fears rejected. "Who was it?" He asks, his tone deadly, fuelled by a shock based anger I know only too well.

"Project Jenova."

From the corner of my eye I see him stiffen at the name. I can only imagine the memories it must bring up for him, but I refuse to call him 'The One-winged Angel' and by now The Crew ought to be used to that, or know it at least.

"When was this Vince?"

"The night of the stake out. He killed a cop too." I wait for his reply, facing the juke-box and pretending to choose the song. It's a long time before he responds to me and his words send shivers down my spine.

"Do you know where he is?"

"We cannot follow him now Cloud." I say tersely, turning to face him and look him in the eye. He's shorter than me by about 5 inches but it doesn't make him any less intimidating. I can tell immediately that he doesn't appreciate my tone of voice, but someone has got to keep him on the straight and narrow; like I said, he's headstrong.

"I don't intend on following him Vincent," He hisses, emphasising my name "I intend on killing him."

"He's too dangerous right now." I say as he spins away, throwing his cue onto the table and stomping angrily out to the garage. I follow him closely; I don't want him to do anything stupid. "With the people we have right now, we won't have a chance against him Cloud."

He's wrecking the garage, searching for something I think, it's hard to tell in his mad flurry. He's throwing things all over the place, left, right and centre; I'm having a hard time trying to dodge them all. Finally a wrench flies past my head and I've had enough, he's becoming dangerous. I hurry forwards to grip his arm, stopping him from digging any deeper into the tools and scraps he has piled up around his walls.

"Cloud," I whisper urgently, "You need to see sense and let this go for the time being." He looks at me as if he wants to punch me; I tighten my grip on his arm and continue. "Tifa is alright, she's getting by but you need to be here for her and not fly into a fit of rage over something you _will_ get your revenge for."

"It wasn't about him Vincent." He whispers back, the anger in his eyes fading to something I think might be called resentment. "For me, it wasn't about him. It was about Shinra. I _hate_ Shinra. They're all I wanted to crush. But now..." He worries his bottom lip, his eyes falling from my face to rove over the pile of stuff he was searching through. I release his arm, now I'm satisfied he'll talk normally and not trash the place like he was before. "Now, he's angered me and I want him to know where his limits lie."

He continues to search through the piles of scraps and I watch him as he moves down the wall, pulling out boxes and searching through them, only to push them back and move along a bit more. "We're not in the power to set him limits Cloud." I say.

He shakes his head, pulling away a sheet of corrugated metal from the wall, revealing an indentation with a box inside it. "Someone has to Vince. The police might not have the power to do so because according to record he doesn't even exist. But then, according to record neither do you. Or Yuffie." He pulls out the box and straightens the metal back over the gap. "I had this made for you." He says, handing over the box with a vaguely proud smile.

I take it carefully, wondering what it was and how it was at all possible that he could have been searching for this throughout his rage. Upon opening the box I find a gun, standard looking, long barrelled shotgun sort of thing. A 44-magnum highbred if you will. The only problem being, it had three barrels. I take it out of the box, letting Canary hold the box as I run my hand up it's middle barrel, over the trigger, down the butt of it and finally to the wheel. I break it open and inspect the nine bullet places. All the time Canary's been talking. "It's why I've been busy. I knew you'd need something more substantial than your old desert eagle, so I took the liberty of having this made. The design was all my and Zack's work. He thought of the three barrels, but he wanted to put an interchanger on it. I didn't think it would work with what he'd already planned. Besides, it's not something you can get with a delivery boy's wages."

I nodded, poking a finger into the chamber. It comes out clean: it's never been fired. "Is there any ammo?" I ask, peering along the sight.

He nods, re-opening the box and pulling out 3 bullets. "The barrels take it in turns to fire," He says as he hands them over, "Or at least that's the idea."

I nod, slotting the bullets into the spaces and cocking it, spinning it until it stops and taking aim. I really want to fire it, but that would be irresponsible inside, and besides, there's an entire shooting range dedicated to that in the basement.

"Think you'll be alright by yourself?" I question, smiling when he nods and heads over to a beat up old dirt bike, pulling out a tray and positioning himself to sit on it.

"Yeah, I'll just take my anger out on this old thing." He slides himself underneath and grabs a hammer, beginning to smash away at it as his words entailed, the only thing besides his eyes that signals he is not yet quite as calm as he might claim to be. I bend and pick up the box he put on the floor earlier, assuming there must be more bullets in it, then turn and leave the garage. I think it might be a little while until Canary's ready to talk to anyone.

* * *

He held his breath and grit his teeth as he strained against the spanner, snarling when the nut refused to move. He tossed the tool aside and slid out from under the bike, rolling so he could reach for something more powerful – a mallet – then settled back on the tray and pushed himself back under with his feet. Grumbling at it, he slid a chisel from his pocket, positioned it at the head of the bolt and proceeded to whack it; the damn thing was coming off whether _it_ thought so or not. A few minutes later it fell off and hit his shoulder. Tossing the mallet aside he pocketed the chisel and froze.

Footsteps were coming closer to him over the garage floor, which was hardly unusual, apart from the fact that the owner was wearing high heels. Quickly, in suspect of the woman, he searched around for something to do, grabbing a nearby screw driver and beginning to unscrew something he had only attached minutes before.

Sure enough the footsteps stopped when they reached him, and he waited with baited breath for whomever to speak. "Cloud?" His name was posed timidly as a question and was laced with hurt and confusion and he wanted so much to just slide himself out and grab her, holding her tight and comforting her immediately without even the knowledge of her problem. But that would have been unhelpful, so he could only stop his work and listen.

"Aerith's dead."

"I know..."

"Please speak to me properly..." Tifa pleaded, falling to her knees and pulling weakly on his leg. With some reluctance he did as she wished, bending his legs and dragging himself out from under the bike. He propped himself up on an elbow and looked at her. It was obvious she'd been crying, her eyes were red and were once again filling with tears, even as he watched.

"Alright," he sighed, manoeuvring himself off the tray and holding out a hand for her. She took it and he pulled her into his lap, spreading his legs so her back was resting against his chest and his hands were cradling hers over her stomach. "Tell me what happened."

Tifa sighed, looking at their hands for a few moments before saying slowly and quietly, "In the autopsy room the man there said she was bitten by something. A human. Her throat was torn out and she must have bled to death. Her jaw was broken and all caved in and- and-"

"Shh, you don't have to say any more. I know. I know..." Cloud soothed, rubbing his thumbs over the backs of her hands as she shook with silent tears. Her voice had begun to shake as she talked and he found himself hugging her tighter as she choked on her words. It was all he could do to stop her from talking and now he was rocking slowly from side to side, shushing and whispering small comforts in her ear.

Eventually she stopped crying enough to free one of her hands and wipe her tears away, hiccupping and sniffling quietly. "I don't know what to do anymore Cloud..." She whispered, falling back against him, whereas before she had been huddled over her own knees in search of comfort.

"What were you doing before?" he asked, giving her remaining hand a brief squeeze in comfort.

"I was searching for you! And I was certain I'd found you but you escaped... And then I was going after Shinra to try and find out about Project Jenova but I found nothing... And no one on the force wants to help me anymore and Cid said I should 'take a break' which basically means handing the case over to someone else and-!"

"Whoa whoa whoa," He stopped her, frowning, "Not so fast. By all means let it out, but slowly, I don't want you getting upset again."

She nodded and was about to begin talking again, but he continued. "Lets start at the beginning. You found me in the bar 7th heaven. But I escaped. I only escaped from you because I'm not ready to give myself up yet, and when I do I'm not letting any of the Crew go down with me. The captain goes down with the ship, the men don't. When I'm done doing what I need to, then I promise I'll turn myself in, ok?"

She nodded again and he continued. "Shinra... That's dangerous ground there Teef. And Project Jenova... you could be killed for knowing about this... You shouldn't worry yourself with this just yet, they'll get their pay I promise. But for the time being I want you to concentrate on Aerith's death."

She gasped, twisting round in his arms to look him in the eye, anger and hurt in her ruby gaze. "She's connected to Shinra and Project Jenova now Tifa." Cloud explained, returning her gaze without so much as a flinch. "If you try and find her killer I'm sure it will bring you so much closer to the answers you're looking for with Shinra, without putting you in the firing line. But trust me when I say that getting too involved with Shinra and their case will put your life in danger."

Her gaze flickered between both his neon blue eyes, searching for any ill intent, before she nodded, swivelling back round to rest her back on him again. He felt himself relax now she seemed to accept his answer and explanation. "And as for no one on the force wanting to help you... It's easier this way. If no one is there to get in your way, then you can go about solving the case how you want to."

She nodded slightly, then said, "But this case is turning out to be huge. And without Aerith, I _need_ someone to help me. I can't do this on my own..."

"You're not on your own Tifa," He replied, resting his chin on her shoulder, feeling the heat radiating from her already burning cheeks. "You have an entire Crew behind you. And the force will help you with arrests and things I'm sure. So just relax and let us help."

"But you're who I need help catching. Why would the Crew help me?"

"Because we're on the same side respectively. And you'll catch us, I promise, but there's a much bigger shark in the water here Tifa. We're only the little fishies."

She turned her head to look at him after his odd analogy, a puzzled yet slightly amused expression on her face. "Fishies?"

Cloud smiled, "Yes, fishies." A bubble of laughter rose from her chest and he felt a wave of relief crash over him at the sound. She was going to be alright. He withdrew his arms from around her middle and stood up, walking round to the front of her and holding out a hand. "Come on," he said when she looked puzzled, "We can't sit on the floor all day."

She smiled and took his hand, letting him help her up. She straightened her skirt with one hand – he hadn't let go of the other one yet – and let him lead her from the garage and out onto the street.

They walked quite a long way in silence, her hand in his, their fingers entwined, a blush slowly making its way up Tifa's neck. Eventually he stopped them outside a cafe with tables and chairs outside and plant pots on the window sills. It looked homely and nice and when Cloud offered that they go in for a drink, Tifa couldn't resist. It looked to everyone who saw them that they were a young couple out for a walk, the thought practically made her heart burst with some unexplained emotion that she found oddly exciting. It was almost as if she couldn't breathe, as though there were bands on her chest that were getting tighter and tighter with every passing second.

"Breathe Teef, breathe."

His voice brought her back out of her little world and she couldn't help but smile at him. Now he'd spoken she found she _could_ breathe, something which seemed far too familiar to her as she took the seat he offered. The waiter came along with menus and they took them, thanking him as he left with a slight duck of his head. Cloud hadn't taken his eyes off her yet and she could feel herself becoming flustered. In the end she resorted to hiding behind her menu, pretending to choose something from the list.

_She ran to him, her arms finding their way around his outstretched ones to wrap around his body and her face burying into the soft black cotton on his chest. She began to shake and she was relieved that he was there, that she had something to hold onto as his arms wound around her to keep her in his warm cocoon. His breath rippled across her in a wave of cinnamon and sugar, "I love you."_

Tifa froze as the memory flashed through her head. Or was it a dream?

"Tifa?" She looked up to find Cloud peering at her from over the top of the menu.

"Sorry," she blushed, "what did you say?"

"I said I needed to just go use the phone a moment." He smiled, indicating to the phone box just outside the cafe door. "Just need to let Pup know about a few little things."

"Oh, alright then." She smiled, trying not to seem as though the memory of her dream wasn't flashing through her mind and she wasn't focused nearly solely on his lips as he talked. He raised an eyebrow at the blush that was still colouring her cheeks and stood up, a slight smirk stretched across his face.

As soon as he was outside, Tifa let herself breathe. She didn't know what was wrong with her, she had completely forgotten that stupid dream, but now she was back with him her mind was filled with nothing but the memory of his lips on hers, his hand sliding up her leg, feathering the rim of her skirt against her skin...

She let out a huff of frustration and tried to focus her attention to the menu in front of her, letting her eyes skim over the things on offer, finally deciding on a double latte with extra sprinkles after concluding she really didn't have a clue what the rest of them were. It had just arrived and she was taking her first sips when Cloud returned to the table, a beer in his hand.

"Sorted?"

"Yeah, just had a few things I wanted him to do, nothing much really."

"Ok."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying the companionable atmosphere, her drinking her coffee, him drinking his beer. Neither seemed to want to fill the void with sound, so both left it empty.

Cloud couldn't help but notice as he sipped his coffee, the gazing eyes of nearly every male in the joint were settled quite comfortably on the young woman across from him. He frowned, feeling uncomfortable, but then again she didn't seem to have noticed. He made no move to hold in the sigh that slipped through his lips. Maybe he was just nervous because the plans were finally beginning to take shape. Yes, that had to be it. It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that he was sat with the most beautiful creature in the world, drinking a bottle of beer like it was his attachment to life, while he endured the stares of the entire male populace of the inside of the cafe _and_ he'd resorted to crossing his legs to hide the fact that he was most definitely _hard_ beneath the table cloth. Nothing to do with that at all. Nope.

"The weather's nice..." He said, taking a sip of his beer and immediately regretting his choice in conversation topic.

"Mm..." She nodded, her gaze flickering to the sky beyond the window, "I like the Clouds."

"Yeah, I like the sunshine." He managed to say, despite the fact his heart had just been struck through with an arrow the size of Shinra tower.

She nodded, then laughed, hiding her smile behind her hand and shaking her head at his inquisitive look. "We're talking about the weather?" She asked through laughing.

"Oh," he paused, a slight grin appearing on his face, "I guess we are. We could talk about something else if you like?"

She stopped laughing slowly, although there was still the twinkle in her eyes and the curving of her lips that told him she was still just as amused as before, and was simply making the effort for his benefit. She took one last sip of her coffee, then made to stand up, much to Cloud's dismay.

"We ready?" She asked, glancing over to where the cashier was and pulling out her purse. Seeing this, Cloud jumped to his feet and raced over to pay, giving her a look over his shoulder that clearly said 'boys pay the bills'.

He passed the money over, then bounced back to where she was waiting for him, more than grateful he was wearing one of his longer shirts that would hide his... rather excited extremity. Slipping his fingers through hers he pulled her from the cafe and down the road at a fast trot. "What're we running for?" She called to him, slightly out of breath.

"Because it's fun!" He replied, delighted at her answering laugh.

They ran all the way to the central park, where he bought her an ice cream, which she splatted over his nose in playful retaliation to a teasing comment about her eating style. He bought himself a drink which he then accidently on purpose poured down her arm when he accidently on purpose slipped due to her crushing comments on his Chocobo hairstyle. They called it even when the rest of the drink squashed between the both of them, squeezing its contents all down the front of both their tops.

They went and sat by the water, watching the ducks swimming around on the surface, Tifa fawning over the fluffy little ducklings, Cloud running around trying to catch one for her. He ended up getting bitten by mother duck and that hurt, so he abandoned the duckling catching crusade and resigned to laying back on the grass beside Tifa, his eyes closed and hands twined behind his head.

"Cloud," she began and he cracked an eye open, answering her with a hum. "Do you suppose... Don't you think it would be nice to have a different way of life sometimes?"

He shut his eye and wormed around to get comfortable, "I guess so. I've never really considered it. Why?"

She shrugged, shivering slightly as the sun disappeared behind a cloud, "No reason. I was just thinking if it would be different between us if... If... I wasn't a cop..."

He opened his eyes, staring for a moment at the back of her head, before sitting up and asking the questioned they both knew was just hanging in the air between them. "Would you want it to be different?"

She shrugged, bringing her knees up and hugging them to herself. "I don't really know. I like these little moments where I can talk to you and be with you perfectly fine. But I love my job and I don't want to have to choose between you as the criminal or you as the person... If you know what I mean..."

He nodded, his eyebrows meeting in a frown. "Yeah... I know what you mean... I guess for me, it wouldn't matter what lifestyle you or I had, I would still love you just as much as I do now..."

He waited for a reaction while she stared at her knees, feeling it was better not to disturb her from any thinking she might be doing, but found himself fidgeting anyway. Eventually, she raised her eyes to meet his, apprehension written all over her face as she said quietly "What if... I don't want you to love me...?"

He didn't have to think as the answer left his mouth. "Don't care."

Tifa frowned, that was obviously not the answer she was searching for. It was perhaps too simple, too blunt for her to understand. She favoured the lengthy, heartfelt explanations and his short, two-word answer just didn't fill enough of the blanks for her to fully comprehend what he meant. She let her eyes drift back to the water, just as the sun re-emerged from behind its cloudy obstructer. The heat and light of the day was immediately returned and she stretched, a small squeak escaping her at the popping and stretching of muscles.

Cloud held his breath as she arched her back, her head falling back and her chest pushing out as she reached her arms high above her head. He didn't see how someone so beautiful and naturally smiley could have such a deep dark heart inside them. It was obvious even to him that she had been through a lot in her life and that right now was one of her most testing times. And yet here she was, sitting beside him in the Central Park, stretching slowly on the grass, in the sunshine as though she hadn't just asked him what he would do if she didn't love him. Wait... Did she love him?

"Do you love me?"

She froze, turning her head to stare wide eyed at him as he blurted out the question. He immediately regretted letting his mouth run ahead of his brain as she fumbled for words. "I don't... I can't... Cloud, you know I..." She shut her eyes and buried her face in her knees, taking a deep breath and collecting her thoughts. This was exactly the sort of thing she was hoping never to be asked. Ever.

"You don't have to answer you know..." He murmured, coming to her somewhat reluctant rescue. "I don't really mind if you don't want to tell me... I just... wanted to know where I stood with you..."

She raised her head to look at him with calculating eyes. He sighed, staring out at the water, "If you love Rude, then it's fine, I won't push you to answer me. That would be unfair and... I don't want to force you into anything. I just thought that it would be easier for us to... Get on with arresting and bringing down the government effectively if... I wasn't... getting in your way all the time..."

"It sounds as if you want me to say I _don't_ love you." She said quietly, drawing his attention back to her. "And I don't love Rude... He's just an old friend..."

"Oh." Despite the fact that he was still waiting to hear some sort of confession of either love or indifference, at the news that Rude was _not_ in her romantic picture he couldn't help the triumphant feeling that flooded his soul. "So..."

"So... I could love you, because I don't love anyone else... But I'm not allowed to love you. You're the-"

"Bad guy and you're the good girl. Yeah. I know..." He let his gaze drift up to the sky, bringing his knees up and resting his arms on them as he spoke. "But... I can't help falling in love with you, even if we're on different sides of the fence. You... Take my breath away. And I'm just... searching for some comfort in knowing you might possibly love me too..."

She nodded and they sat in silence, thinking. If she was to love him, wouldn't it make things easier for them, knowing they had something in common? Knowing they wouldn't have to lay awake each night wondering what they could say or do to be closer to the other? Or would it be harder to live with themselves simply because now they knew how they felt, and they would have to accept the fact that they could never be together?

Tifa sighed, glancing at the man beside her from the corner of her eye. He was still staring at the sky, his breathing regular, his cerulean blue eyes blinking occasionally, the long lashes brushing against the high cheek-bones with every movement. He looked so calm, and she was sure on the outside she must have seemed that way too. But on the inside, her heart was pounding and the blood was racing through her system, filling her brain with ideas and notions that seemed so obscure, so... stupid, that she couldn't help but act on them.

"Cloud," she whispered, relieved when her voice didn't squeak like she was afraid it might. He turned to look at her, and even as he did, his eyes dragging themselves from the blue blue skies above them, she grit her teeth, planted her palm on his leg, leant in... And kissed him.

He froze, caught between the surprise of having her so close to him that their lips were touching, and the sudden realisation that their lips were touching! His eyes widened as reality hit him like a train, but before he could do anything she was pulling away, a blush covering her face as she turned away from him.

"You can take that as your answer..." She mumbled, hiding in her knees so she didn't have to face him. If she had, she probably would have noticed the run-through of emotions he was currently displaying. They went from delighted to confused, through triumphant and smug to guilty, panicked, back to delighted again before settling down as solid happiness, with a sprinkling of greed – just to make it interesting.

Deciding to take his answer as just that she loved him _enough_, he shuffled closer to her, moved her hair from falling over her face, slid an arm round her waist and whispered, "That's a yes then?"

She looked up at the smugness in his voice and immediately regretted it. Or did she? She could feel her heart beginning to pound even faster – if that was at all possible – and her eyes flickered shut as his mouth settle over hers. He tasted sweet, like cinnamon gum, with a slight taste of that lemonade drink he'd spilt oh-so-accidently down her top. He was gentle too, just like the Cloud in her dream she realised, although this kiss was longer and slower than the one in her dream. She couldn't help but shuffle closer, letting her fingers tangle themselves into the front of his top.

He vaguely acknowledged her fingers tightening in his t-shirt, but he was too preoccupied with her lips to pay any great attention that sort of detail. He couldn't help but notice how soft her lips were against his, the taste of her cherry chap stick, everything about the way she felt, tasted, moved against him was soft and mellow as if it was pastel or watercolour and he could tell it was blurred around the edges, every colour and taste and feeling was blended into each other and he found he liked it. Yes he'd kissed her before, yes he'd enjoyed it then. But then and every other time he'd touched her, had her pressed close against his body like she was now, he had been the one making all the moves, and she had simply been a participant in the occasions.

Now, as her lips moved slowly with his, in a heady but paced passion, it felt different. It felt as though she really wanted him around, wanted him to be there, holding her safely in his arms as she let herself go just that little bit boneless against him, just that little bit giddy on the inside.

He whined when she shifted, but found he liked her new idea better. She had brought herself to her knees and was kneeling between his legs, which were still bent and left enough room between his knees for her to be there, shuffling ever closer, her hands sliding from his t-shirt up into his hair. He smirked against her lips and she drew back, frowning.

They were merely centimetres apart, he could feel her breath ghosting over him so he knew his whisper would reach her ears. "You're rather eager for someone who couldn't even get her words out a few minutes before aren't you?"

She blushed, averting her eyes, even as he pulled her in for another kiss, laying down once he had her lips captured. She squeaked as she toppled over onto him, her hands shooting out to catch herself before she squashed him flat. It took her mere seconds to break the kiss and fix him a look that would have sent any lesser man running and ducking for cover.

"What?" He questioned playfully, tugging gently on a lock of hair that fell over her shoulder.

"We're in public." She said, mustering as much strength as she could to push herself back up onto her knees, watching him suspiciously as he followed her, his hands sliding round her waist, a mischievous look taking over his face.

"Then maybe," He whispered, pulling her closer to him and sinking his hand into her hair, "We should take this somewhere less _public_?"

* * *

**_A/N:_** Tsk tsk naughty Cloud ;) The next chapter MIGHT be a the lemon, depending on how well you guys persuade me ;) I hope you liked this chapter, it took me a while to write and I'm sure you can figure out where the writers block kept showing up xD Anyway, thanks for reading, please review, I love you all!

-Okami


	21. Behind the Closed Door

_**A/N:**_ Okay so here's the smut, the lemon, the whatever you want to call it. I'll admit it took me a long time to post it, but honestly, I had writers block for this and who can blame me! It's not easy to write a story up to 26 parts and then try and make the two main people shag each other! xD

Anyway, I hope this makes up for the long wait and I hope you're not disappointed. If you are, I may re-write it and try again... But you'd have to say.

* * *

Part 26

She shut the door with a click and almost immediately he was on her, his hands slipping round her waist and pulling her back against him as his lips went to work, licking and tasting along her pulse point, letting his teeth graze every now and then. Her breath hitched in her chest as his fingers began fiddling with the buttons on her shirt. "Cloud," She breathed, "Slow down. Please?"

He moaned disapproval against her throat and continued on his quest until her hand stopped him, light and gentle over his, her voice sounding near his ear. "Please?"

After a moment's pause he raised his head, shifting his exploratory movements to a warm embrace hugging her from behind and letting the both of them breathe. "Sorry," he mumbled after a while, "I just can't help myself. You're just so perfect..."

She raised an eyebrow, trying to see him over her shoulder in the dark of the room. "And that means you can't keep your hands off me, does it?"

"Yes," he chuckled, his hands travelling down her front to the hem of her shirt, pulling it gently, teasingly. "To my credit, I did an excellent job at keeping my hands to myself in the taxi. _And_ in the elevator! But we're alone now and unless the world is coming to an end or you have a _very_ good reason why not, I'm not letting you go tonight."

He waited a moment for her _very_ good reason, but when it never came, and she simply spun in his grasp, a shy smile gracing her lips, he backed her slowly against her door, twining their fingers and bracing her hands against the wood either side of her head, before claiming those lips for his own in long, slow, soft kisses.

Tifa couldn't help the smile that widened across her face as their lips moved in sync, she had kissed men before, sure, but this was different. She felt vulnerable and safe and cold and hot and flustered and calm all at the same time and she was fairly sure it was as a result of this man right here. She wanted to move her hands, wanted to feel his hair beneath her fingertips and she struggled her hands in his grip.

"What is it?" He asked, his lips brushing hers as he spoke, his voice holding concern and hesitance, but also promises and hints of what was to come, _if _she didn't stop him first.

"I want my hands back." She whispered, her eyes fluttering open to gaze into his glowing blue eyes, before they fluttered closed again and she tugged emphatically on his hands, signalling what she wanted.

"What if I said no?" He asked and practically heard her heartbeat race as her eyes flew open to gaze at his mischievous smirk.

"Then..." she mumbled, realising she had no idea what she would do if he said no. She was at his mercy now and there was no chance of overpowering him, he was just too strong for that. And besides, she wasn't so sure she wanted to stop him... He was... Intoxicating.

"What's this?" He asked mockingly, his smirk turning into a full grin as he moved his hands to her waist, her fingers still entwined through his. "The police lieutenant doesn't have an answer to her reckless lover's question?"

She blushed at the way her hands were now held securely behind her back and looked away as his words by her ear sounded somewhat triumphant. "I-I don't consider you to be my lover." She stammered in an effort to help her pride.

Immediately he withdrew, a slightly hurt look on his face. "Oh..." He let go of her hands and they fell to the sides limply. A crushing feeling of dread stabbed through her as she realised she'd hurt his feelings.

"I didn't mean it like that..." She whispered, unable to meet his bruising gaze, so instead looking awkwardly at her feet. "I meant... I haven't had the chance to really let it settle in... It doesn't feel as though you're really here as my... Lover..."

"Oh..." He still sounded hurt, as though he was waiting for another explanation. When she said nothing, and continued to fiddle with her feet in the carpet he said quietly, "Sorry... I just assumed..."

"It's alright..." She mumbled, then laughed, catching his attention and forcing eye contact as she laughed out, "Trust me to ruin the mood!"

His grin returned immediately as he took a step towards her, his words like velvet or smoke on silk in the darkness of the room – they hadn't even bothered to turn on the lights in their rush to get into the apartment – "I don't think the mood is ruined, even if you don't love me..."

She couldn't help but grin at his childish pout as he made his way slowly towards her, a glint in his eyes that she wasn't sure if it frightened her, or made her more excited and weak against him. His arms came around her waist and pulled her flush against him, leaving her hands to slide up his chest and tangle in his hair. "I do love you..."

His eyes widened and if his grin had gotten any wider it would have split his face in two. "Good," He whispered against her lips, slowly beginning to guide her through the apartment as he added, "It would be inconvenient if you didn't."

"Inconvenient?" She feigned insult as she frowned at him, one hand untangling from his hair to turn the knob on her bedroom door, "I would hope you would feel a little more than inconvenienced Mr Strife."

He smirked but didn't answer as they fell back on the bed, their lips joining again in a series of open mouthed kisses that, when Cloud shifted his attention to her neck and collarbones, left Tifa gasping for breath. She was laying back and enjoying the kisses he was lavishing upon her body, so much engrossed in the feel of his lips on her skin that at first she didn't notice what his right hand was doing until it was halfway down her shirt.

"Cloud I-..." She stammered, stopping and biting her lip. He raised his lips to frown at her. He felt sort of defeated and he wasn't at all happy with how things were going. He'd never had this much trouble having sex before but now it seemed there was a problem at every turn.

"You don't want to do this do you..."

She felt guilty the moment the words left his lips and she could understand why he might come to that conclusion. Her hesitance and reluctance were not encouraging signs when you were about to have sex with someone. She shook her head, "That's not it I just..." She bit her lip, wondering how she should phrase this...

"I've never done this before..."

As soon as she spoke those words, panic rose up into his chest. She was a virgin! She was inexperienced and fragile and this would hurt her. He didn't want to hurt her. He sat up, scooting away from her and turning to the edge of the bed, his legs crossed and huddled to his chest as he thought.

Tifa sat up, watching his back. She knew she shouldn't have said anything. And now he was backing away. But if they didn't do it tonight then when would they? She was going to have to lose it some time and she didn't like the thought of losing it to any other man. No, scratch that. She _hated_ the thought. She moved to the other side of the bed and swung her legs over the edge. Somehow they had ended up in the middle of the bed and now they were sitting on opposite sides of it. There she was again, ruining the mood. She sighed with frustration and kicked her shoes off, making to stand up, but cloud's hand round her shoulders stopped her.

"I'm sorry I'm making you do this..." He mumbled and she felt his forehead fall against her back. She was feeling a little shocked, she hadn't even noticed him moving he was so silent and so quick, but she managed to nod any way. And then shake her head.

"Don't be. It's going to happen at some point isn't it?"

He shook his head, his hair making a noise against her shirt as he moved. "But it'll hurt you. And you deserve someone better for your first time. Someone more secure. More... Permanent..."

She sighed. She knew what he was referring to. At some point she was going to have to bring him in in cuffs and a label on his shirt. At some point he was going to be going to jail and if she continued her involvement with him any further she would lose her job. This was a losing battle no matter which way they looked at it.

"I know..." It was all she could think to answer and his arm tightened around her, a shuddering breath fluttering against her back. She didn't make much of it at first, it was just a sign of defeat. But then something struck her, it sounded like... But it couldn't be... Was he... Crying?

She swivelled round in his grip to try and see. He looked up at her movement and in the moonlight she could see he wasn't crying. But he looked odd. His eyes were dull and he looked depressed, but at the same time angry and a little turned on. She frowned. He blinked. And immediately the expression was gone. Now he just looked plain miserable.

"We shouldn't do this."

She nodded, peeling his arm from around her shoulders and stepping off the bed. "You're right. It isn't right for you to be my first time. I'm too pure for you. I should just go out and find someone else who's willing to ruin me. Don't worry, it's not like I had my hopes up or anything."

She didn't know why she turned to sarcasm, but the look on his face was just priceless. Shrugging, she turned and slipped her shoes back on her feet, did up the buttons on her shirt and made to leave the room. She jumped as his hand slammed the door shut, even before she had gotten round to opening it. Dammit he was so _fast_! It was frightening her, and when she turned to see him towering over her, only inches away, she took an involuntary step backwards.

He was pissed. Not angry, and certainly not at her. But he was pissed all the same. He didn't even bother with normal speed as he tried to stop her leaving. He only controlled his temper enough to stop himself punching a hole through her bedroom door, and even that was marginal. He was sure there would be a dent there in the morning. Her step backwards didn't slip his notice and he found himself growling, "Don't ever threaten to pass yourself off to some low life ever again. Do you hear me Tifa?"

She nodded and something akin to fear flashed through her eyes. He immediately began kicking himself for scaring her and wrapped his arms round her in a hug, whispering into her hair, "Never say that again. Because they _will_ ruin you. And no one's allowed to do that but me."

She nodded, her arms sliding round his middle as she hid her face in his chest. "I'm sorry I scared you." He added.

"I'm sorry I threatened you... It was an empty threat... I was just trying to... help you make up your mind..." She admitted, feeling herself turning a brighter shade of pink with every broken sentence.

He chuckled and she could hear the sound reverberating through his chest beneath her ear. "Help me make up my mind that I would rather ruin you myself than let someone else do it?"

She nodded and he chuckled again, before he pulled away, lifting her chin to look her in the eye. She was glad she wasn't enough of a wuss to cry then as he whispered quietly, "Let me try again... And I'll try not to hurt you..."

She nodded, her eyelids fluttering closed as his mouth settled over hers again, soft and tentative, his tongue sliding along her bottom lip, asking her for permission. She parted her lips and allowed his tongue inside, swallowing a moan that threatened to escape her as it slid alongside her own.

For a single moment he had been the most frightening thing in the world – even more so than the mad man of 4 nights ago – and her first inclination would have been to turn tail and run away. But a part of her, the handful of rationality that remained, kept her where she was. And boy was she glad it did.

She shivered as his hands began exploring her body through the shirt, running down her sides and down her thigh, hitching it up over his hip as he leant her against the door. On the outside he was gentle and calm, but inside he was miserable. He was so frustrated that he had let his control slip enough for him to get angry at her for something he knew was an empty threat. But if he was honest – which he was, sometimes brutally on occasion – he still hated the prospect of someone else with their hands on her. She was his damn it!

"Cloud..." Her voice brought him out of his inner hating and he murmured that he was listening. "You've stopped."

He almost died of embarrassment to find that she was correct; he had stopped dead with her pressed against the door, his hands on her hips and his head hanging somewhere near her shoulder. He had been so busy annoying himself that he hadn't even noticed when his movements became infrequent and slowly ground to a halt all together.

"No I haven't" he lied, trying to patch up his mistake, "I was just wondering how long it would take to make you beg..."

Tifa's eyes widened and she turned her head to look at him, her hands falling to his shoulders as she gawked at him. Would he really? No, that wasn't the right question... _How_ would he? The thought that he might have some crazy tricks up his sleeve – possibly foreign if she was lucky – made her cheeks colour and she was glad the room was so dark.

"You're blushing Lockheart."

His voice was a deep purr in the darkness and if anything it only made her blush even more. Just her luck that he could see in the dark. "Gone back to that little pet name have you?" She questioned with just a hint of irritation.

"If only to make you hotter." He remarked as her cheeks radiated heat, her dark eyes swirling with want and lust. Gods she was beautiful like this, trapped in his arms, and blushing. She always seemed to blush around him. He let the corners of his lips curl upwards slightly as he added, "And I know you can't resist me when I say it, Lockheart."

She couldn't see him properly in the darkness, but she just knew he was smirking, she could hear it in his voice. It didn't help that he was right, she loved the sound of her name rolling off his tongue in that cocky tone he always seemed to have equipped. She didn't get time to reply however, as his lips covered hers with small kisses, trailing along her jaw to her ear.

Cloud smirked, he could hear her breathing increasing in the same way her pulse was racing under his lips. He heard it catch in her chest when he slid a hand under her shirt – unbuttoning the thing obviously wasn't working – and sent his fingers skimming across her stomach, then further up to her breast, stroking his thumb over the nipple, feeling it pebble at his touch.

Needing to feel soft skin under his mouth, he grabbed the rim of the shirt and dragged it off over her head, pausing at the way her hair fell thick and silken around her shoulders, slightly mussed from their activity and so dark against her strikingly white skin. How come she was always able to make him feel like a schoolboy again? Facing his first time with wobbly knees and braces – something he had promised himself he would never be forced to endure again – just by looking at him?

He dropped her shirt on the floor and spun her onto the bed – if only to distract from the urge to scratch the back of his neck – placing a knee on the mattress to fall comfortably over her, supporting his weight so as not to crush her. She was obviously feeling more daring because careful fingers began pulling on his t-shirt, silently demanding that he should remove it. He obliged willingly, straightening to pull it over his head and throw it somewhere in the room, he didn't care where, before returning to her, his mouth open and sliding along the column of her throat as one hand – the hand that wasn't supporting his weight – settled on her breast.

Tifa couldn't help the moan that slipped through her lips when his mouth found her breast, biting and laving her through the material of her bra. Before, she would never have thought that such a sensation existed, it was indescribable, almost like a swell of feeling that somehow wasn't enough for her. She wanted to tell him it wasn't enough, but a part of her thought she might sound stupid; as if there was something more he had to give her.

She shut her eyes in the darkness and resigned herself to the feel of his lips on her chest, slowly travelling lower, the soft tips of his hair brushing lightly against her skin. This was the first time she'd felt something like this, and was most likely to be the last, so she wasn't going to make any moves to stop him.

"You can tell me to stop if you get uncomfortable." He murmured against her skin as his fingers hooked into the waist line of her skirt, pulling it down her legs and tossing it aside.

"I won't," She promised, "I'm not sure quite what to be uncomfortable with anyway."

He chuckled, a low noise in the back of his throat that made her shiver, and she could just see the dim light from outside reflecting in his glowing eyes. Glowing eyes? She half frowned, but then sighed, deciding it didn't matter as his lips returned to her body, kissing and licking everywhere they could find, tasting every last little bit of her and she arched her back from the bed to allow his hands to slip behind her and undo the clasp at her back.

Cloud could have groaned at the sight that now lay spread out on the bed before him. Once the most of her clothing was out of the way, he had been free to explore her body at his leisure, but there was one thing that was stopping him. Her underwear. It had occurred to him that removing someone's underwear might come across rather presumptuous, so he warned her beforehand. Well, kind of. She's made no complaints or showed any signs of stopping him – she'd even helped him take it off – so the only thing remaining between them were his clothes and her panties.

He admitted to himself that he felt a little nervous, but that was only to be expected of a couple's first time together right? Besides, he wanted this – scratch that, he _needed_ this – and by her pink complexion and flustered, heated expression, he could tell she wanted his as well. In fact, if she got any redder, she might even set the duvet on fire.

He smirked at the thought and leant in to kiss her, thrusting his tongue inside her mouth to run along her teeth and battle against her own.

Tifa felt a stab of embarrassment when his fingers tucked into her panties and tugged them down her legs far enough for her to kick her feet free. She felt even more embarrassed when long digits fluttered over her swollen lips, then slowly sunk inside. She gasped, her hands fisting in the covers either side of her, unconsciously planting her feet and moving with each thrust of his fingers.

"Good," he crooned, watching her face as she gasped for breath, completely transported as he curled his fingers inside her, almost beckoning her to come for him, "Trust me Tifa."

She struggled with some unintelligible reply, and he smiled as he rotated his wrist, brushing his thumb over her clit. She was beautiful right now – well she was beautiful all the time but now much more than ever – naked and trusting on the sheets in front of him, a light dusting of pink on her cheeks under gleaming ruby eyes, her dark hair splayed out across the pillows, her back arched and small cries and moans falling from her slightly parted lips. Solely for him.

He allowed himself one last glimpse of her face, before he lower his head, replacing the caress of his fingers with the firm heat of his tongue.

"Cloud!" His name left her mouth in a breathless gasp as pleasure wrapped her from head to toe. Her fingers slipped from the sheets, to thread through the soft strands of his hair, holding him still as she bucked under the motion of his tongue, leaving heat and sensation in it's wake, before it repeated the action over tingling flesh and swept her up in a storm of pleasure.

He resisted the urge to groan as he felt her come against his tongue, she tasted like vanilla and musk and although he wasn't overly fond of sweet things, she reminded him of vanilla ice cream. Just not so cold and she left him far more breathless than any ice cream ever had. He gently soothed her down from her high, then sat up laughing.

"What?" She grumbled, feeling a little embarrassed at his laughter and her shameless use of his name. Reaching up, he detangled her fingers from his hair, and then stood from the bed to completely undress, pausing to wipe the shine from his mouth and chin with a tissue.

"You're easy to please huh?" He teased her, lowering himself over her again and kissing her softly. She wrinkled her nose at the taste of herself on his lips but he simply smirked, "I like the way you taste."

She flushed pink and averted her gaze from those blue, glowing orbs. "This will hurt," He whispered, reaching down with one hand to spread her legs further, couching himself closer against her. He was hard and thick already and the feeling stirred something to coil in her stomach. Anticipation perhaps?

"Are you ready?" He asked softly, his eyes searching her face for any hesitance, but she simply nodded and kissed him, ignoring the lingering flavour on his lips.

He looked down between them, lining himself up, then returned his eyes to her, locking her gaze as he pushed forwards. He supposed he should have felt guilty – and he did a little - at the pained look on her face as he sunk further in, but she was so hot and so tight, and with the lingering spasms of internal muscles working against him, he found it almost impossible to just not care and to focus on that wonderful feeling, but he could still recognise the way her body tensed the moment he met any resistance.

Gritting his teeth, he paused a moment for her to catch her breath, before breaking through in one vicious thrust. She gasped, the arms that had made their way around his shoulders tightening sharply and he could see the expression of mingled shock and pain on her face very clearly in the darkness. "Sorry..." He muttered, burying his face in her shoulder and hoping it didn't hurt too much, because after all he had no real idea.

"Don't be. I wanted this remember. It's not against my will."

He nodded. It was amazing how trusting this woman was. Slowly, he began to move, altering the pace depending on the intakes of breath at his ear. He was wrapped in his own little world, carefully going slowly and gently when Tifa spoke in his ear, her slightly shaking hands beginning to roam his body. "Move Cloud."

He half smiled at the order which he smugly noted was practically seeping desperation, "Yes ma'am." He leant into her, quickening his pace and grinding their pelvic bones together. It would have appeared that she had gotten over the pain, and now she was just as demanding and confident as any of the other women he had been with. (Although his accounts of these occasions were hazy at best as they were invariably due to vast amounts of drink and drugs being ingested in some form or another.)

They moved in sync, her hips rising to meet his each time he withdrew to surge forward again and after a few minutes Tifa was back on the breaking point again, her pulse quickening beneath his lips and her breaths becoming erratic near his ear.

"Say my name." He urged, detaching his mouth from the deep red hickey now proudly proclaiming her as his. Maybe she had a point, he did have a thing for giving her hickeys, not that he really minded, it was a habit he could get used to.

"Cloud," the word was purred against his skin, sending a shiver down his spine, something he rewarded with a swivel of his hips and his fingers made their way back to find her clit, moving in slow circles around it, prompting a much breathier, much more heartfelt cry. "Oh! Cloud!"

She screwed her eyes shut as she came on a cry of his name. She heard his muffled groan as he spilled inside her, his shaft jerking as he came.

Once the last tremors faded, he pulled out of her and fell to the side, breathing hard, a grin smacked across his face. Folding her close in his arms he sifted his fingers through her hair as she struggled to get her breathing back under control.

"Rubbish..." He muttered near her ear and sniggered at the shocked expression that covered her face, quickly adding , before the shock could form into hurt, "But you know, practice makes perfect."

And then she was pinned beneath him again as his lips made short work of her recently controlled breathing, sending it spiralling out of control again. "Cloud... I..."

He smiled and raised his head to place a light kiss on her forehead. "Not tonight though hmm? You'll need your rest then Teef, big day tomorrow."

When she frowned in the darkness he sighed, "Gotta turn myself in now haven't I. I promised didn't I; tell you my name so you can scream it to me later, kiss me and I let you go, sleep with me and I turn myself in."

She groaned and shook her head, making Cloud hum his commiseration, before rolling onto his side and pulling her close, reaching a hand out to grasp the bed covers – which had been kicked aside at some point in their exchange – and dragged them over them both, before allowing himself to slip into sleep, the sound of Tifa's gentle, settled breathing lulling him off.

Yes, tomorrow he had to turn himself in, and from tomorrow onwards, their relationship would be purely the Cop and the Criminal. But that didn't mean tonight hadn't happened. And anyway, it wasn't tomorrow yet so he could still revel in the feel of her skin against his and her breathing fluttering across his shoulder. Besides, if things went according to his plan, he wouldn't be seen as the criminal for any great length of time. But then again, that all relied on his comrades.

* * *

**_A/N:_** Boy am I glad that's over haha xD

The next chapter gets on with the story. I had originally said I would finish this by part 27. But obviously it's gonna take me longer than that, as you can probably imagine, seeing as how part 27 is the next bit lol xD Anyway, the plot bunnies have just struck yet again so I'm off and should have the next chapter up fairly soon :D

Cya

-Okami


	22. Rude, Fridges, Vinnie and the Greatest!

_**A/N:**_ I said to some I would get it out by the end of the week, and I know you're probably disappointed by how I skipped over the turning in bit, but I promise I will come back to that in the next chapter. Promise. Cross my heart and hope to be attain a mild injury.

Anyway, I found it a little difficult to follow up from that last chapter (;]) So this is what I came up with and I really hope it is good enough for you guys, because you're the only reason why I'm writing this xD :)

So, enjoy :D

* * *

Pt 27

**Headline news.**

**Today, Police Lieutenant Tifa Lockheart succeeded in her battle against the infamous crime Lord known only as 'Canary'. The Police are letting very little information on to the public, only that Canary came without a fight and is currently being held in the cells of the Metropolitan Police headquarters and is undergoing questioning for his alleged crimes.**

**It is unclear as of yet where the remainder of Canary's accomplices are hiding, but the police assure the public that it will not be long before they too are brought to justice by the law. Chief of Police, Cid Highwind, gave this statement to the press this lunchtime; "We have begun the ball rolling and we will not stop searching and working until all these criminals are brought to justice. They are nothing in the face of the law. We have weakened their resolve. Canary is in our custody, it is only a matter of time before the rest will follow."**

**Lieutenant Lockheart has thus far refused to make any statements, although it has been speculated on that Canary turned himself over to her this morning outside her home in Midgar Central. There has been no spokesperson for the Lieutenant, although it is clear this battle for justice is not over just yet.**

**There have also been reports of the death of a member of the police force. Detective Aerith Gainsborough was reported missing 2 nights after the stake out of the popular gang bar; The Seventh Heaven. A body was discovered not far from the scene and is rumoured to in fact be the body of the missing detective. The Police are not confirming these reports to be true and are continuing to investigate into her disappearance.**

Zack snorted and threw the paper down on the table, stomping over to the fridge and opening it, reaching inside and grabbing a bottle of water. Unscrewing the cap he drained the bottle, then hurled it at the bin.

"Calm down a little would you man?" Reno complained from across the room. "We knew he was going to do something like this or he wouldn't have left us plans. But that's still no reason to rip the fridge door off."

Looking back over his shoulder, Zack winced. The fridge door was indeed now hanging from one hinge at an angle and was swinging slowly from side to side. "His plans don't incorporate the deaths of members of the Police Reno!"

He turned and grabbed some Duct-tape from a shelf and began trying to stick the fridge door back on. Reno simply watched him from the couch, cigarette in hand, his feet up on the table. "But what _do_ his plans tell us to do?"

"You," Zack grunted, holding the door in place with one hand and sticking it with the other, "Won't need to know anything until I tell you. He left _me_ in charge, so therefore it stands to reason that only I should know what's going on."

"That's not good teamwork!" Reno whined, taking a drag from his cigarette, "You have to give us something to do! Or I'll go mad!"

"Alright!" Zack huffed, dropping the fridge door and rounding on Reno, striding across the room to grip him by the lapels, "First off, you can fix the fridge and learn to live without the cancer sticks! And then, you can go outside and fix his bike!"

"Alright, alright," Reno muttered, freeing himself of Zack's fists and wandering over to the fridge, "No need to get your knickers in a twist..."

Zack scowled and stormed out of the garage. He knew Cloud had been planning to turn himself in, but he didn't think it would be so quick! He'd received a phone call from Yuffie that morning and had been subjected to her screeching and wailing about Cloud's lack of priority. There was nothing he could really say in his friend's defence, so had ended up joining in the bitching session quite heartily.

He sighed as he leant against the wall. And to make matters worse... Aerith... He rubbed a hand wearily over his temples. It was such a waste of such a lovely girl! He had met her a few times, and had fallen in love with her from the word 'go'. But then again, they were too different, and she never seemed to see more in him than a playful friend and shoulder to cry on.

But now she was dead and he could bet with all his heart he knew who did it. Even the thought of it made his blood boil. Of course, the police wouldn't be advertising the fact that she'd passed on to the lifestream... But it was obvious in the way the news paper had written it, and Lieutenant Lockheart's distress and misery the day before had pretty much spelt it out for him.

"The plans Pup."

At the sound of the voice, Zack turned to find that he was no longer alone. Vincent was standing in the doorway, watching him with that punishingly red gaze. Zack sighed and pushed himself off the wall, slipping his hands into his pockets and turning to face him.

"We start out with some reconnaissance, get the dirt on Shinra, prepare ourselves for what's next." He said, not bothering to put any cheer into his voice. "We need Canary's bike to be finished pretty soon, and we need to sort out the ammo, you know, distribute it."

Vincent nodded, his gaze switching to scan over the dirt bike in the corner. "Is the bike necessary?"

Zack nodded, "Yeah, he wants us to have a small, fast moving transport vehicle, and the bike seemed like the best thing for the job."

"Who's working on it now?"

"Reno in a while, when he's done fixing the fridge."

"I'll do it. He doesn't have much mechanical knowledge does he."

"He doesn't have any knowledge."

"Hey!"

Both men inwardly cursed as Reno emerged from the garage, duct-tape in hand, a less than pleased expression on his face. "I have plenty of knowledge thank you! And I don't need mechanical knowledge to fix that old heap."

"Really?" Vincent asked, turning to him with a sceptical expression, "And how would you go about fixing it then?"

Reno winked at them, then bounced over to the bike and pulled it off it's jack, beginning to wheel it towards the road. "Just leave it to me. I'll be back in a few days with the bike and hopefully some information on Shinra."

And with that, he was gone, leaving Zack and Vincent alone outside. "I hope he knows what he's doing," Zack commented. "If he ruins that bike then we're fucked."

"He's an ex-Turk," Vincent replied, turning away and heading back inside, "He knows what he's doing."

* * *

I groaned as I opened the door. There were two things I disliked in this world; mice and Reno. The latter of which was standing on my front porch, a beaten and battered old dirt bike behind him, grinning like a maniac from ear to ear.

"Yo Rude!" He greeted me, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet in excitement, "I know it's been a little while but I thought you might give me a hand!"

Now I know what most of you must be thinking – "Why on earth would you dislike someone so polite and cheerful as this?" – but honestly, if you had spent _half_ as much time with him as I have, you would understand my sentiments exactly. It's not that Reno is unpleasant really, or even unkind, only that he has a penchant for trouble.

"What is it you want my help with?" I asked in a bored voice, not opening the door any further than a sliver. I wasn't intending on giving him any idea's that he may make himself at home in my house. The place might never become clean again!

"Well..." He shuffled his feet and glanced over his shoulder at the bike. "I was just riding past, on the way back from visiting my grandmother, when my bike packed out, yo." He turned pleading green eyes on me. "I knew you lived somewhere around here and you're good with this kind of stuff, so..."

"You want me to fix your bike." I finished for him, resisting the urge to sigh; _visiting his grandmother, a likely story..._ I opened the door wider, then closed it again abruptly when he began trying to lead the bike inside. "You can leave the bike there. Take your shoes off by the door, sit at the kitchen table and don't touch _anything_!"

Almost as soon as I had stopped talking he was inside, pushing his shoes from his feet and scurrying into the kitchen like a mini whirlwind. My instructions of not touching anything were of course ignored and pretty soon he had sat himself down at the table with a beer and a sandwich. Oh well, as long as he cleaned up afterwards... Dream on.

"So, you finished your project yet?" He called as I crouched down to inspect his bike.

"What project?" Holy- How did he get this thing anywhere? The brakes weren't connected and the throttle was missing altogether! _Visiting his grandmother, yeah right, robbing her of her weathers originals more likely, then making a less-than-speedy getaway on his ruined, uncompleted dirt bike._

"You know, the one in your living room, under the big sheet." _Crash!_ Oh no! What has he broken! I'm not going to go in and find out, I'll leave it until he's left, then if it's important I won't be tempted to rip his head off because he won't be here.

"Yeah, I finished it years ago. You just haven't been here in so long so you wouldn't know." If I was going to fix this thing, it would take more than a day. Two at the least. "Reno come out here, I'm going to need your help with this."

It didn't take long for him to come outside, beer in hand, crumbs round his mouth. "Yup?"

"Your brakes are hanging off, your ignition is shot to bits and you don't have a throttle. How in the hell did you manage to get this out here?"

He shrugged, adjusting his trousers and attempting to dodge the question. Like I would let him. I fixed him one of my glares doing my very best to imagine a laser cutting through the middle of his skull. Don't worry he won't die; there's nothing much in there anyway. Just beer and girls. Fat, ugly girls. Nothing like Tifa... Sigh...

My glare seemed to be doing nothing for the situation – but that may have something to do with the fact I'm wearing sunglasses – so I relented and just turned my focus back to the bike. I could attach the brakes fairly easily right now, but the rest would be more difficult. But first things first, replace all the broken or missing bits.

"So, how've you been yo?" He asked me, sitting himself down on the porch and watching me as I continued to inspect the bike, pulling things off at odd intervals.

"Not too bad. How about you? No one's heard anything of you since you left." Geez, the thing was so muddy!

"Oh not too bad, got myself a new job, livin' with a buddy of mine. I hear Shinra's hijacked another government building?"

"Mhmm..." I answered vaguely, staring in mild amazement at the part that had literally just fallen off in my hand. Looked like a nut that someone had tried to chisel off...

"Yo, didn' they also steal that mansion in the mountains?" Honestly, where does he hear these things? He doesn't even work for us anymore...

"They already owned that Reno, they simply renovated it."

"Oh," He sounded sort of disappointed, as though he had been expecting some juicy story. "So what was it like before?"

I shrugged, moving round to the other side of the bike and wincing at the sight. "I dunno man, rumours say it was a lab before. Some project that went wrong."

"Really? What happened."

I frowned at him over the top of the bike. "Why the sudden interest?"

"Just curious," He shrugged, taking a swig of his beer and staring up at the sky. "I _did_ work there before, you know. Just strikes me how little I actually knew about the place, you know?"

Fair enough. "The project failed. There was an explosion or something, the container for the power went nuts and short circuited. Blew the place sky high. There were a lot of injuries."

"Did anyone die?"

I shrugged again, dragging a long line of goo from a cylinder with a mild feeling of disgust. "A few people I think. Not all that many though. Not much is really known about the project since it failed."

"Wow... When was this?"

"About 10 years ago I should think- Geez Reno what did you do to this bike?" I opened one of the tubes and a fish fell out! A fish! I looked up at him aghast, but he only grinned sheepishly at me.

"That's why I said I needed your help..."

* * *

"Holy moes Zack! You have a Vampire in your kitchen!"

Zack groaned. Yuffie had chosen that moment to arrive at the garage, and naturally the first place she went was the kitchen in search of food. Vincent had been in there working on his gun. The stoic man had decided to put a chain on it and had christened the thing Cerberus, something Zack thought was a little dark, but fit the gun perfectly.

"Holy moes Zack! Your fridge door just fell off!"

Zack rolled his eyes. Surely Reno had fixed the fridge right? He pulled himself grudgingly from his seat, and trudged into the kitchen, where Yuffie was cowering away from Vincent, holding the fridge door in front of her like a shield.

"Calm down Yuffie," He sighed, taking the door from her and replacing it on the fridge, noting the hinges Reno had attempted to repair the door with looked a lot like the ones from his bedroom door – that little punk better not have done what he thought he had. "This is Vincent Valentine. Vince, this incorrigible creature is Yuffie Kisaragi. I'm afraid you guys will be partners for the duration of Canary's plan."

If Zack wasn't mistaken, he could have sworn Vincent's shoulders drooped a tad at the prospect of working with someone who had already given themselves an such unfavourable first impression.

"Oiy! I am not an 'incogible creature'! I am the great Ninja Yuffie Kisaragi! White Rose of Wutai! And don't you forget it Vampy." She shook a finger in front of Vincent's face, withdrawing it sharply when he snapped his teeth at it.

"It's incorrigible Yuffie, and Vince is not a Vampire. He's just..." Zack trailed off, noticing the challenging red gaze, daring him to finish his sentence. "Erm... (gulp)... He's..."

"Heartless?" Yuffie chipped in, looking from the glowering male to the cowering one and back again.

Zack nodded slowly, "You could call him that. He's just separate."

Vincent's eyebrow twitched at that description, but he didn't find it offensive, so he let it slide, with a noticeable sigh of relief from Zack. Separate indeed described most of his presence and even existence within The Crew. He never spent more than the necessary amounts of time with them, and never joined in any conversation with anyone other than Pup, Canary himself, or on occasion Reno, who's only saving grace in this world was his time as a Turk.

The fact that he was now going to be spending time – months perhaps – in the company of this girl who had already succeeded in pulling the fridge door off, irritating him beyond belief and _then_ proclaiming that he was 'heartless', was not one he was anticipating with much excitement. The same could not be said of the girl in question.

"Well Vampy, got anything valuable on ya?" She winked at him, her tiny hands already reaching for his jacket.

Not really feeling the need to answer, Vincent pulled out someone he was sure would do all the talking for him. Yuffie gulped as three barrels were shoved abruptly under her snout, her hands making their way slowly yet deliberately back to her pockets.

"So, you must be Galian Beast," She remarked, taking a few tentative steps back. "Pup mentioned the gun see... You can call me Rose for short..."

Glaring at her for a moment longer, Vincent nodded, returning Cerberus to it's place on the table in front of him, and picking up some wire cutters. Yuffie watched him for a moment as he cut through some silver wire, then turned and whispered in Zack's ear, "Forget about separate, he's just depressing."

* * *

_**A/N:**_ So? How was it? I hope you weren't _too_ disappointed :/ But I really need to move the plot along a bit, so from here on the Cloti is gonna be less, although I promise you some huge plot twists in the not too distant future. Maybe even a second lemon? ;P Although you'd have to persuade me :D R&R :)

-Okami


	23. Shinra

_**A/N:**_ Wow... got this out a little sooner than I thought I would... I was going to put more onto the end of it, but then I thought... 'I could make a whole 'nother chapter out of that... why not just separate them?' So yeah, that's why it cuts off where it does :)

Enjoy and tell me what you think :D

* * *

Part 28 – Shinra.

Tifa sighed, rubbing at the back of her neck as she slouched in the back of the taxi. It had only been a day since she had taken Cloud into custody, but she missed him already. The press had been mobbing the police department since then and it was becoming difficult not to resort to violence to get into the office. She wanted to see Cloud, wanted to ask him if he was alright, wanted to hug him, kiss him...

They'd been questioning him all night, but he hadn't said a word, just sat there in that room, gritting his teeth and mocking the officers with his silence. Tifa hadn't yet offered to question him, and she hadn't been asked to. It was difficult to conceal how unhappy she was with this and there was only so long she could say it was because of Aerith's death. So now, she was sitting in a taxi on her way to Shinra's HQ, reasoning that the work would keep her occupied enough not to let her mind dwell.

Not that it was working, she was constantly thinking about Cloud, replaying that night – that _moment_ – in her head over and over again, and the fact that they could never be together. She had known it all the while but had allowed her mind to be controlled by her heart and now she was miserable because of it.

The delighted faces all around her were not helping in the slightest. She had received pats on the back and congratulations - the whole shebang - when she'd turned up at the office with Cloud in hand-cuffs, following obediently behind her as they'd planned. At first there was silence, every head in the place had turned to gawk at her and the blond haired, blue-eyed man behind her, confusion written over the all their faces. Eventually Barret had stumbled from his seat asking, "Teef, baby, is that- I mean is that punk-?"

"Canary."

Her words had garnered shouts of delight and papers being thrown in the air as the office sprang into life and Cloud was whisked away to the cells without so much as a backwards glance. She hadn't been to see him since. She didn't really trust herself not to simply fall all over him, greeting him in the most intimate of fashions. Which would obviously blow their cover entirely. So she stayed away.

She wasn't sure what she was going to say to Rufus Shinra when she arrived at his HQ, but she was in the mood for a challenge right now and welcomed the prospect of the unknown. She guessed she might as well just ask him about any accidents that had occurred in the last 10 years. And about that mansion they had recently renovated. Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea to visit the place herself. She might pick up some useful stuff there.

The taxi turned into the front gates of a huge building she wasn't even aware existed in this metal city. Well for starters it had _grass!_ And it was made from bricks! It was flashy and grand and the gravel on the drive sounded satisfyingly crunchy under the car tires. The taxi stopped and Tifa paid the fare, instructing the taxi to 'wait there'.

She turned back to the building with a gulp and a mental pat on the back of encouragement. Straightening her uniform, she shouldered her handbag and walked confidently up the steps, into the lobby, and up to the front desk, where a smiling man met her. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," Tifa said, pulling out her police badge and showing the man her identification. "I'd like to talk to President Shinra if I may. It's not all that urgent, but I would appreciate it if I wasn't here all day waiting." She smiled for added effect, throwing all her charm into that one gesture, and seeing the man redden, his hand reaching for the phone, she silently thanked her mother for the genes she had been blessed with.

"Excuse me, there's a Tifa Lockheart here to see the President," The man spoke into the phone, giving Tifa an encouraging smile, which she returned heartily – the more friends she had in this place, the better – "She says it isn't urgent but she doesn't have a lot of time."

While he was conversing with the person on the other end of the phone, Tifa took the time to have a look at where they were. The lobby was spacious, with white marble flooring and warm red walls. There were various tables dotted around with vases and pictures arranged on them, giving the place a formal, but homely look with the help of a few strategically placed armchairs. Tifa was glad there were no huge oil paintings of intimidating old men on the walls either, their places being taken up by elegant up-lighters that glowed off the walls, painting rings of golden-red light on the pristine white ceiling. It was ambitious, but they had managed to pull it off well. Someone knew what they were doing.

"Excuse me, Miss Lockheart?" Tifa's attention was drawn to a woman who was hurrying towards her from an elevator in the corner. She was tall and thin with long blond hair left loose around her shoulders. She was wearing a plain black suit with a zip instead of buttons. A Turk, Tifa noted, she'd seen Rude wearing the same outfit many times.

"That's me." Tifa confirmed with a small smile, starting to walk towards her, after glancing at the beaming man behind the desk.

"President Shinra says he'll see you immediately." The woman stopped, waiting for Tifa to catch her up, before turning and heading back towards the elevator she had come from.

Immediately? Well that was nice of him, perhaps he was going to shower her in congratulations also... Well if that was the case he could expect her to be a little less than extremely polite for making her sour mood return.

The elevator, Tifa noticed, was plain to the point of being boring and it seemed that the woman beside her must have noticed her surprise as she said, "This is the Turk's elevator. The visitor's is on the other side of the lobby."

"Oh," Tifa nodded, that made the lack of decor a little easier to understand, but also raised another question. "Do I not count as a visitor?"

"The Turk's elevator is also faster than the visitor's elevator. And it's also closer to Rufus' office."

Tifa nodded. It surprised her a little to hear the woman speak his first name so casually, as if he was nothing more than the grocer's son on the corner. Surely someone so important would command respect from all his employees right? She didn't get the chance to ask however, as the next second the doors slid open and the woman was leading her out and to the left, along a plain white corridor that would also have appeared to be designed for the Turks' particular use, as a door on their right lead them out onto the main corridor, which was the same deep red as the lobby downstairs.

They stopped in front of a pair of huge oak doors with big brass handles, and the woman knocked three times, before pushing the door open and stepping inside, Tifa following like a little lost puppy.

The room was nearly as big as the lobby itself and was painted in the same colours. This room was slightly flashier however; big black leather chairs and low wooden tables furnished the place, vibrantly coloured peacock feathers were mounted on the walls, while a huge fireplace took most of Tifa's attention immediately to the far end of the room. In front of it sat the biggest armchair Tifa had ever seen, and although she could tell there was someone sitting in it, she could see nothing more than their feet below the chair because it was facing away from her.

"Come where I can see you Miss Lockheart."

Raising her eyebrow at this patronising phrase, Tifa did as she was told, walking the length of the room in long, purposeful strides. She stopped when she could see the man in the chair and the heat from the fireplace rushed over her in a wave.

"Rufus Shinra, I am Lieutenant Lockheart of the Midgar Police Department and if you don't mind I have some questions for you about your company."

Rufus rubbed a hand over his chin and continued to gaze into the fire. "Miss Lockheart-"

"Lieutenant."

"Lieutenant, if there is anything you would like to know about my company, you can check the company's history data base. Tea?"

"No thank you." Tifa declined, shifting the straps on her handbag further onto her shoulder. "I would like you to answer the questions yourself. I would like you to answer them correctly and truthfully, this will be on tape."

To back up her point, Tifa pulled from her pocket a mini-tape recorder and held it in the light. Rufus sighed and stood from his perch, gesturing for Tifa to lead the way to the sofa's in the middle of the room. Once seated across the table from him, Tifa began: "Could you tell me of any accidents you've had in the company over the past 10 years please."

"Our safety regulations are impeccable Lieutenant; there is no margin for error in our work. There have been no accidents in _any_ of our reactors or power plants."

"I am not a health and safety inspector Rufus, I am not concerned with your reactors, it is common knowledge that they are in fine working order and maintained to the highest degree. What I am asking about is any scientific accidents."

"Scientific?" Rufus frowned. Did this girl know about their labs? If so, how? Surely that little punk in their cells wouldn't have told her anything, he would be too stone faced to even breathe a word wouldn't he? If he wanted his secrets to be kept then he wouldn't let on anything about any of theirs... Would he? "We are a power company Miss Lockheart, we have no scientific projects or labs for there to be accidents in."

"Could you please tell me about the mansion you recently renovated? The one in the mountains that had been abandoned for around 10 years."

Rufus' frown deepened at the mention of the mansion. He didn't know where she was getting her information from, but if she discovered anything else then he would be in trouble.

"It was my father's mansion-"

"This was your father's company I believe, it only stands to reason that the mansion should be his also. Why was the mansion abandoned?"

"We had no use for it."

"But it was in use 10 years ago was it not?"

"It was."

"What was it used for?"

"Offices."

"I thought you said it was your father's mansion. Did your father enjoy having offices in his house?"

He cursed silently to himself, she was trying to catch him out and had succeeded in garnering his first mistake. "My father didn't live in the mansion. He simple owned it. The place was used for offices. It was no longer needed and so we shut it down."

"Really?" Tifa asked, feeling quite smug at his first mistake. Now she knew he _definitely_ had something to hide if he was lying and getting his story all turned around. "What happened to the people who worked there?"

"They were dismissed."

"Could I see a list of all the people who worked in that mansion please?"

"Of course." Rufus grit his teeth. He couldn't very well refuse her the list because that would be suspicious, but if she found anything on the people there, then it would prove to be problematic. He waved a hand for the woman by the door to step forward. "Elena will take you. Do you have any more questions Lieutenant?"

"Not for the minute thank you." Tifa said, standing up and straightening her skirt. "If I have any more questions I shall come back. Thank you for your hospitality."

When she was gone, Rufus let himself slump in his seat. So, things were finally catching up to them. He supposed this was what they called Karma. Still, he couldn't sit around and wait for fate to catch him up, he had people to call and things to arrange. A car to the mansion for one and a cup of coffee for another.

* * *

"You're really that interested in the mansion huh?"

Elena was leaning in the doorway of the record room, watching Tifa as she rifled through all the names and profiles of the people who had worked in the mansion.

"Yeah..." She murmured vaguely, pulling out various people and laying them in an order on the table she was leaning over.

"Any particular reason?"

"Do you have a file on Lucrecia Crescent anywhere?"

One thin blonde eyebrow arched as her question was ignored, but Elena moved to the end of the room anyway and dug out a big box, dumping it on the table in from of Tifa, before repeating her previous question. "Any particular reason why you're so interested in the mansion?"

"I think something happened there. And I think Rufus Shinra is lying about something big."

"Really?" Elena asked sounding a bit shocked. "How big is big?"

"I think he's got some awful conspiracy of sorts covered up. Like an experiment that went wrong?" Tifa looked up at Elena, who paled and licked her lips nervously. Now _that_ was a good reaction. "Do you know if there's a file here on something called Project Jenova?"

Elena shook her head. Then began rifling through the box on the desk, pulling out a file and handing it to Tifa, before backing away with a tight expression. Project Jenova was a myth, just a rumour. Something they had no knowledge on, it was taboo to even discuss it in the building. She wasn't about to tell Tifa about it that was for sure.

Turning her attention to the file Elena had handed to her, Tifa read the name at the top, and her heart almost skipped a beat. 'Lucrecia Crescent-Valentine'. So it was true... Vincent Valentine and Lucrecia Crescent were married. And she _did_ work for Shinra at some point. And now she was dead. And by Elena's reaction, it looked as though 'Project Jenova' was something they didn't want getting out into the open.

Tifa opened the file with shaking hands, hoping to god that this one hadn't been burnt like the last one had. Luckily it hadn't, and she could see immediately that her suspicions had indeed been correct. 'Profession: Scientist.' Rufus was a liar. 'Date of Death: 16th April 2000'. 10 years ago. 'Department: Shinra Mansion.' Jackpot.

"Elena," She addressed the woman at the end of the room, "I'll be taking some of these files in for examination, could you please help me carry them to my Taxi?"

Somewhat reluctantly, the blonde moved forward to help Tifa gather up the necessary bits, then followed her out of the room.

* * *

"Shinra Mansion please."

The driver turned round in his seat to look incredulously at her, "Look missy, I know you're with the police and all that, but Shinra Mansion is _miles_ away from here! It's going to take forever to get there and _then_ it's gonna cost you a tonne too!"

She sat forward in her seat and put a hand on his bicep, "I know, and I'm so very grateful for your help, you've been my saviour today, but I really need to get to Shinra mansion somehow..." She threw in some puppy eyes for good measure, and watched as the man's eyes softened.

"Well... Alright. I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't help out such a lovely person. Belt up then, this is going to be a long journey."

* * *

_**A/N:**_ Got a bit choppy at the end there didn't it xD Oh well I can only do so good for so long haha :D

Next chapter will be about Shinra Mansion as I'm sure you probably guessed, because I really need to get the plot going now. *le sigh* Canary's in jail and Tifa's running around the countryside unearthing horrifying pasts of certain people... Hmm :/

You'll never guess what Tifee finds at the mansion ;)

R&R please :D

-Okami


End file.
